We apply the gradient flow on a color-electric two-point function that encodes the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient. The simulations are done on fine isotropic lattices in the quenched approximation at 1.5 Tc. The continuum extrapolation is performed at fixed flow time followed by a second extrapolation to zero flow time. Perturbative calculations of this correlation function under Wilson flow are used to enhance the extrapolations of the non-perturbative lattice correlator. The final estimate for the continuum correlator at zero flow time largely agrees with one obtained from a previous study using the multi-level algorithm. We perform a spectral reconstruction based on perturbative model fits to estimate the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient. The approach we present here yields high-precision data for the correlator and is also applicable for actions with dynamical fermions.

Gradient flow has been proposed in the lattice community as a tool to reduce the sensitivity of operator correlation functions to noisy UV fluctuations. We test perturbatively under what conditions doing so may contaminate the results. To do so, we compute gradient-flowed electric field two-point correlators and stress tensor one-and two-point correlators at finite temperature in QCD. Gradient flow has almost no influence on the value of correlators until a (temperature-and separation-dependent) level of flow is reached, after which the correlator is rapidly compromised. We provide a prescription for how much flow is "safe."

No abstract

Brambilla, Escobedo, Soto, and Vairo have derived an effective description of quarkonium with two parameters; a momentum diffusion term and a real self-energy term. We point out that the real self-energy term can be expressed directly in terms of Euclidean electric field correlators along a Polyakov line. This quantity can be directly studied on the lattice without the need for analytical continuation. We show that existing Minkowski-space calculations of this correlator correspond with the known NLO Euclidean value of the relevant electric field two-point function.

In a recently published work we provide a proof-of-concept of a novel method to extract the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient from color-electric correlators on the lattice using gradient flow. The transport coefficient can be found in the infrared limit of the corresponding spectral function which is reconstructed through perturbative model fits of the correlator data. In this proceedings report we want to give more detailed insights into the systematic uncertainties of this procedure and compare our results with other studies.