The determination of potential scales in 2+1 flavor QCD

Abstract

We calculate the hadronic scales $r_0$, $r_1$ and their ratio $r_0/r_1$ on $N_{\rm f}=2+1$ flavor QCD ensembles generated by the CLS consortium. These scales are determined from a tree-level improved definition of the static force on the lattice, which we measure using Wilson loops. Our analysis involves various continuum and chiral extrapolations of data that cover pion masses between 134 MeV and 420 MeV and five lattice spacings down to 0.039 fm. We compare the potential scales to gradient flow scales by forming corresponding ratios. We find $r_0=0.4757(64)$ fm at the physical point. As a byproduct of our analysis we express the $N_{\rm f}=3$ QCD Lambda parameter determined by the ALPHA Collaboration in units of the scale $r_0$ and obtain $r_0 \Lambda^{(3)}_{\overline{\rm{MS}}} = 0.820(28)$. Furthermore we present results for the second derivative of the potential to study its shape and compare it to phenomenological potential models.