Chirally improved Dirac operators: Studying the sensitivity to topological excitations for zero and finite temperature

We discuss the construction and properties of an approximate solution of the Ginsparg-Wilson equation, the so-called chirally improved lattice Dirac operator. In particular we study the behavior of its eigenmodes in smooth instanton backgrounds as well as for thermalized gauge configurations on both sides of the QCD phase transition. We compare with results from other Dirac operators including the overlap operator. The results support the picture of chiral symmetry breaking being closely related to instantons.