In-medium P-wave quarkonium from the complex lattice QCD potential

TL;DR

This study investigates the in-medium behavior of P-wave quarkonium states using lattice QCD, revealing their spectral broadening, mass shifts, and survival at high temperatures, with implications for heavy-ion collision experiments.

Contribution

It extends previous lattice QCD potential studies to P-wave quarkonium, providing new insights into their spectral properties and melting temperatures in hot QCD matter.

Findings

P-wave quarkonium spectra broaden and shift to lower energies with temperature.

Spectral peaks of P-wave states can survive above the continuum threshold.

Estimated melting temperatures for χ_b and χ_c states.

Abstract

We extend our lattice QCD potential based study arXiv:1509.07366 (JHEP 1512 (2015) 101) of the in-medium properties of heavy quark bound states to P-wave bottomonium and charmonium. Similar to the behavior found in the S-wave channel their spectra show a characteristic broadening, as well as mass shifts to lower energy with increasing temperature. In contrast to the S-wave states, finite angular momentum leads to the survival of spectral peaks even at temperatures, where the continuum threshold reaches below the bound state remnant mass. We elaborate on the ensuing challenges in defining quarkonium dissolution, present estimates of melting temperatures for the spin averaged $\chi_b$ and $\chi_c$ states and contrast the findings to recent direct lattice NRQCD studies of P-wave quarkonium. As an application to heavy-ion collisions we estimate the contribution of feed down to S-wave quarkonium through the P-wave states after freezeout.