In-medium static inter-quark potential on high resolution quenched lattices

We reinvestigate the interactions between static color sources in a finite temperature gluonic medium using both high resolution isotropic and anisotropic quenched lattice QCD ensembles. The underlying ill-posed inverse problem, related to the extraction of spectral functions, is attacked with a range of different methods, including Bayesian inference, Padé interpolation and model fits. Among the latter we include a tail amended Gaussian ansatz and a HTL-inspired fit ansatz. We reconfirm the presence of a dominant low lying spectral feature that supports the existence of a potential picture for the in-medium evolution of the static charges at late real times. Using the raw unmodified lattice data, all applicable methods show clear signs of screening of the real part of the potential. After applying a subtraction procedure featured in a previous study, we find however that screening disappears from the extracted potential. Paths toward the resolution of this puzzle are discussed. Published by the American Physical Society 2024