We study correlation functions of spatially separated static quark-antiquark pairs in (2+1)-flavor QCD in order to investigate onset and nature of color screening at high temperatures. We perform lattice calculations… Click to show full abstract
We study correlation functions of spatially separated static quark-antiquark pairs in (2+1)-flavor QCD in order to investigate onset and nature of color screening at high temperatures. We perform lattice calculations in a wide temperature range, $140 \le T \le 5814\,{\rm MeV}$, using the highly improved staggered quark action and several lattice spacings to control discretization effects. By comparing at high temperatures our lattice results to weak-coupling calculations as well as to the zero temperature result for the energy of a static quark-antiquark pair, we observe that color screening sets in at $rT \approx 0.3$. Furthermore, we also observe that in the range $0.3 \lesssim r T \lesssim 0.6$ weak-coupling calculations in the framework of suitable effective field theories provide an adequate picture of color screening.
               
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