The chromoelectric adjoint correlators in Euclidean space at next-to-leading order

TL;DR

This paper calculates gauge-invariant adjoint chromoelectric correlators in a thermal medium at next-to-leading order, revealing asymmetries linked to Matsubara zero modes and aligning with lattice results at high temperatures.

Contribution

It provides the first next-to-leading order evaluation of three distinct gauge-invariant adjoint chromoelectric correlators in a thermal medium.

Findings

Two correlators are asymmetric due to Matsubara zero modes.

Results agree well with recent lattice calculations at high temperatures.

Identifies the source of asymmetry in the correlators.

Abstract

The physics of quarkonium created in heavy-ion collisions is intrinsically connected to the correlation functions of adjoint chromoelectric fields in quantum chromodynamics. We study such correlation functions in a weak-coupling expansion in a thermal medium. We identify three distinct gauge-invariant correlators, and evaluate them to next-to-leading order. Two of the resulting correlators turn out to be asymmetric. We pinpoint the source of this asymmetry to Matsubara zero modes associated with Wilson lines. The results are shown to agree well with recent lattice calculations at high temperatures.