We investigate the possibility for a quark-antiquark pair to form a bound state at temperatures higher than the critical one ($T>T_c$), thus after deconfinement. Our main goal is to find analytical criteria constraining the existence of such mesons. Our formalism relies on a Schrödinger equation for which we study the physical consequences of both using the free energy and the internal energy as potential term, assuming a widely accepted temperature-dependent Yukawa form for the free energy and a recently proposed nonperturbative form for the screening mass. We show that using the free energy only allows for the $1S$ bottomonium to be bound above $T_c$, with a dissociation temperature around $1.5\times T_c$. The situation is very different with the internal energy, where we show that no bound states at all can exist in the deconfined phase. But, in this last case, quasi-bound states could be present at higher temperatures because of a positive barrier appearing in the potential.

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CWI
Modelling, Analysis and Simulation [MAS]
Multiscale Dynamics

Brau, F, & Buisseret, F. (2007). Existence of mesons after deconfinement. Modelling, Analysis and Simulation [MAS]. CWI.