Axial-Vector Lattice Benchmarks Reveal a Common Medium Response of Meson Screening in Hot QCD

Abstract

Meson screening masses trace the evolution of hadronic correlations toward quasi-free quark--antiquark screening in hot QCD. Combining lattice QCD (LQCD) benchmarks with a symmetry-preserving Dyson--Schwinger baseline, we identify a flavor-dependent axial-vector quasi-free onset, $x^\ast_{fg}=T^\ast_{fg}/T_c$: an operational high-temperature matching scale at which the axial-vector screening mass has approached the corresponding free-field value after ordinary chiral restoration or parity-partner convergence has set in. On the finite interval $1\le x\lesssim x^\ast_{fg}$, independent light/strange and charm-containing lattice benchmarks are organized by a common medium-response function with one flavor-sector parameter. One axial-vector point fixes this parameter; the remaining axial-vector data test its temperature dependence, and vector screening masses validate it without vector input. A reduced-mass interpolation then yields lattice-testable quasi-free onsets and screening spectra for light-charm and bottom-containing sectors. The resulting onset scales provide common reference points for future lattice and continuum studies of meson dissolution across flavor.