The screening length in hot QCD

Abstract

We discuss the temperature dependence of the screening lengths in quenched and full QCD using the non-perturbative lattice approach. We analyze the temperature dependence of distances which are defined as moments of quark antiquark free energies. These distance scales are supposed to describe the geometric size of partonic clouds which screen static charges in a medium and characterize distances beyond which the quark antiquark free energy is to large extent dominated by medium effects. At asymptotic high temperatures these moments can be related to the inverse Debye mass. In our numeric analysis we find that these moments drop rapidly in the vicinity of the phase transition and indicate distances which are about twice as large as the inverse Debye mass found in earlier studies. Our analysis supports recent findings that indicate that $J/ψ$ will show significant medium modifications only at temperatures well above $T_c$.