Screening at finite temperature and density

We present lattice QCD results on heavy quark free energies, extract from its temperature dependence entropy and internal energy contributions, and discuss the onset of medium effects that lead to screening of static quark-antiquark sources in a thermal medium. Most results are obtained in (2+1)-flavour QCD on a line of constant physics with almost realistic quark masses and compared to previous results from 2-flavor QCD as well as pure gauge theory. Furthermore, we discuss results on the density dependence of screening masses that have been obtained using a leading order Taylor expansion in the baryon chemical potential.Comment: 10 pages, 15 figures, Presented at Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinement 4th International Workshop, GSI Darmstadt, Germany, July 9-13 200

Heavy quark free energies for three quark systems at finite temperature

We study the free energy of static three quark systems in singlet, octet, decuplet and average color channels in the quenched approximation and in 2-flavor QCD at finite temperature. We show that in the high temperature phase singlet and decuplet free energies of three quark systems are well described by the sum of the free energies of three diquark systems plus self energy contributions of the three quarks. In the confining low temperature phase we find evidence for a Y-shaped flux tube in SU(3) pure gauge theory, which is less evident in 2-flavor QCD due to the onset of string breaking. We also compare the short distance behavior of octet and decuplet free energies to the free energies of single static quarks in the corresponding color representations.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figure

Static quark anti-quark free and internal energy in 2-flavor QCD and bound states in the QGP

We present results on heavy quark free energies in 2-flavour QCD. The temperature dependence of the interaction between static quark anti-quark pairs will be analyzed in terms of temperature dependent screening radii, which give a first estimate on the medium modification of (heavy quark) bound states in the quark gluon plasma. Comparing those radii to the (zero temperature) mean squared charge radii of cha rmonium states indicates that the $J/\psi$ may survive the phase transition as a bound state, while $\chi_c$ and $\psi'$ are expected to show significant thermal modifications at temperatures close to the transition. Furthermore we will analyze the relation between heavy quark free energies, entropy contributions and internal energy and discuss their relation to potential models used to analyze the melting of heavy quark bound states above the deconfinement temperature. Results of different groups and various potential models for bound states in the deconfined phase of QCD are compared.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, Lattice 2005 (Finite temperature and density

Quark antiquark energies and the screening mass in a Quark-Gluon plasma at low and high temperatures

We discuss quark antiquark energies and the screening mass in hot QCD using the non-perturbative lattice approach. For this purpose we analyze properties of quark antiquark energies and entropies at infinitely large separation of the quark antiquark pair at low and high temperatures. In the limit of high temperatures these energies and entropies can be related perturbatively to the temperature dependence of the Debye mass and the coupling. On the one hand our analysis thus suggests that the quark antiquark energies at (infinite) large distances are rather related to the Debye screening mass and the coupling than to the temperature dependence of heavy-light meson masses. On the other hand we find no or only little differences in all mass scales introduced by us when changing from quenched to 2-flavor QCD at temperatures which are only moderately above the phase transition.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, To appear in the proceedings of Workshop on Extreme QCD, Swansea, Wales, 2-5 Aug 200

Heavy Quark Interactions and Quarkonium Binding

We consider heavy quark interactions in quenched and unquenched lattice QCD. In a region just above the deconfinement point, non-Abelian gluon polarization leads to a strong increase in the binding. Comparing quark-antiquark and quark-quark interaction, the dependence of the binding on the separation distance $r$ is found to be the same for the colorless singlet $Q\bar Q$ and the colored anti-triplet $QQ$ state. In a potential model description of in-medium $J/\Psi$ behavior, this enhancement of the binding leads to a survival up to temperatures of 1.5 $T_c$ or higher; it could also result in $J/\Psi$ flow.Comment: 8 pages, 8 Figures; invited talk at "Strangeness in Quark Matter 2008", Beijing/China, to appear in the Proceeding

Free energies of static three quark systems

We study the behaviour of free energies of baryonic systems composed of three heavy quarks on the lattice in SU(3) pure gauge theory at finite temperature. For all temperatures above $T_c$ we find that the connected part of the singlet (decuplet) free energy of the three quark system is given by the sum of the connected parts of the free energies of $qq$-triplets (-sextets). Using renormalized free energies we can compare free energies in different colour channels as well as those of $qq$- and $qqq$-systems on an unique energy scale.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, Contribution to Strong and Electroweak Matter 2004 (SEWM04), Helsinki, Finland 16-19 June 200

Chiral symmetry breaking in the truncated Coulomb Gauge II. Non-confining power law potentials

In this paper we study the breaking of chiral symmetry with non-confining power-like potentials. The region of allowed exponents is identified and, after the previous study of confining (positive exponent) potentials, we now specialize in shorter range non-confining potentials, with a negative exponent. These non-confining potentials are close to the Coulomb potential, and they are also relevant as corrections to the linear confinement, and as models for the quark potential at the deconfinement transition. The mass-gap equation is constructed and solved, and the quarks mass, the chiral angle and the quark energy are calculated analytically with a exponent expansion in the neighbourhood of the Coulomb potential. It is demonstrated that chiral symmetry breaking occurs, but only the chiral invariant false vacuum and a second non-trivial vacuum exist. Moreover chiral symmetry breaking is led by the UV part of the potential, with no IR enhancement of the quark mass. Thus the breaking of chiral symmetry driven by non-confining potentials differs from the one lead by confining potentials.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Screening of heavy quark free energies at finite temperature and non-zero baryon chemical potential

We analyze the dependence of heavy quark free energies on the baryon chemical potential (mu_b) in 2-flavour QCD using improved (p4) staggered fermions with a bare quark mass of m/T = 0.4. By performing a 6th order Taylor expansion in the chemical potential which circumvents the sign problem. The Taylor expansion coefficients of colour singlet and colour averaged free energies are calculated and from this the expansion coefficients for the corresponding screening masses are determined. We find that for small mu_b the free energies of a static quark anti-quark pair decrease in a medium with a net excess of quarks and that screening is well described by a screening mass which increases with increasing mu_b. The mu_b-dependent corrections to the screening masses are well described by perturbation theory for T > 2 T_c. In particular, we find for all temperatures above T_c that the expansion coefficients for singlet and colour averaged screening masses differ by a factor 2.Comment: 14 page