https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-026-01867-8
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Study of the scalar and pseudoscalar meson mass spectrum above the QCD chiral phase transition, using an effective Lagrangian approach
1
Dipartimento di Fisica, “Sapienza” Università di Roma, and INFN, Sezione di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, and INFN, Sezione di Pisa, Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy
a
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Received:
4
November
2025
Accepted:
23
April
2026
Published online:
19
May
2026
Abstract
In this work, expanding on previous analyses, we employ an effective Lagrangian approach to investigate the mass spectrum of scalar and pseudoscalar mesons at finite temperature, above the (pseudo-)critical temperature 
, in a “realistic” 
flavor scenario with degenerate up and down quarks and a heavier strange quark: 
. The model’s predictions are then critically compared with available lattice QCD results (where meson screening masses are extracted from chiral susceptibilities, which correspond to two-point correlation functions of suitable interpolating operators), looking, in particular, for signatures of the breaking of the U(1) axial symmetry above .
Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
Communicated by Heng-Tong Ding.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
