Meson spectral functions at nonzero momentum in hot QCD

TL;DR

This paper reports on lattice QCD simulations of meson spectral functions at finite temperature and nonzero momentum, revealing significant modifications across the phase transition and nonzero spectral weight at all energies.

Contribution

It introduces the use of twisted boundary conditions in quenched lattice QCD to access many momenta and studies meson spectral functions at nonzero momentum.

Findings

Significant changes in spectral functions across the QCD phase transition.

Nonzero spectral weight at all energies in the vector spectral density.

Use of the Maximal Entropy Method for spectral function reconstruction.

Abstract

We present preliminary results for meson spectral functions at nonzero momentum, obtained from quenched lattice QCD simulations at finite temperature using the Maximal Entropy Method. Twisted boundary conditions are used to have access to many momenta p~T. For light quarks, we observe a drastic modification when heating the system from below to above Tc. In particular, for the vector spectral density we find a nonzero spectral weight at all energies.