# First Evidence of $N_f$-Dependence in the QCD Interquark Potential

## TL;DR

This study provides the first lattice QCD evidence that the interquark potential depends on the number of dynamical quark flavors, showing differences between full and quenched QCD at comparable lattice spacings.

## Contribution

It presents the first lattice calculation demonstrating $N_f$-dependence in the interquark potential in full QCD with two dynamical flavors.

## Key findings

- Full QCD potential is consistently below quenched potential.
- No evidence of string-breaking effects observed.
- Potential differences depend on sea-quark mass and flavor content.

## Abstract

We present a lattice calculation of the interquark potential between static quarks in a ``full'' QCD simulation with 2 flavours of dynamical Wilson-quarks at three intermediate sea-quark masses. We work at $\beta = 5.6$ on lattice size of $16^3 \times 32$ with 100 configurations per sea-quark mass. We compare the full QCD potential with its quenched counterpart at equal lattice spacing, $a^{-1} \simeq 2.0$ GeV, which is at the onset of the quenched scaling regime. We find that the full QCD potential lies consistently below that of quenched QCD. We see no evidence for string-breaking effects on these lattice volumes, $V \simeq (1.5\,\,{\rm fm})^3$.