Vector screening masses in the quark-gluon plasma and their physical significance

Understand

Static and non-static thermal screening states that couple to the conserved vector current are investigated in the high-temperature phase of QCD.

• Their masses and couplings to the current are determined at weak coupling, as well as using two-flavor lattice QCD simulations.
• A consistent picture emerges from the comparison, providing evidence that non-static Matsubara modes can indeed be treated perturbatively.
• We elaborate on the physical significance of the screening masses.