String breaking in SU(2) gauge theory with scalar matter fields

We investigate the static potential in the confinement phase of the SU(2) Higgs model on the lattice, where this model is expected to have properties similar to QCD. We observe that Wilson loops are inadequate to determine the potential at large distances, where the formation of two color-neutral mesons is expected. Introducing smeared fields and a suitable matrix correlation function, we are able to overcome this difficulty. We observe string breaking at a distance rb≈1.8r0, where the length scale r0 has a value r0≈0.5 fm in QCD. The method presented here may lead the way towards a treatment of string breaking in QCD.