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Title: Improved determination of the heavy-quark potential in lattice QCD

Journal Article · · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)
 [1]
  1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California (USA)

A new iterative procedure in fitting data is proposed which can properly correct small nonlinear effects. Applying this procedure to fit the Polyakov loop correlation functions previously obtained in lattice QCD simulations, we are able to eliminate the finite-size boundary effects and obtain the quark potential functions themselves, instead of just parameters for the potentials. The quality of the fits is improved significantly. The potential functions obtained at {beta}=6.0--6.2 scale in fine detail, providing important further support of the scaling. The improved estimates of the string tension satisfy the asymptotic scaling within 97%. In comparison with experiments, the obtained value {radical}{sigma} /{Lambda}{sub {ital L}}=79{plus minus}3 indicates {Lambda}{sub MS}=449{plus minus}17 MeV, where MS denotes the minimal subtraction scheme. The coupling constant {alpha}=0.43{plus minus}0.03 agrees very well with experiments, and is also in excellent agreement with the theoretical value {pi}/8=0.39, assuming that the long-distance behavior of QCD can be effectively described by the Neveu-Schwarz string theory.

DOE Contract Number:
FG03-85ER25009
OSTI ID:
5024187
Journal Information:
Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 44:7; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English