We study the heavy-heavy-light quark ($QQq$) potential in SU(3) quenched lattice QCD, and discuss one of the roles of the finite-mass valence quark in the inter-quark potential. Monte Carlo simulations are performed with the standard gauge action on the $16^4$ lattice at $beta =6.0$ and the $O(a)$-improved Wilson fermion action at four hopping parameters. For statistical improvement, the gauge configuration is fixed with the Coulomb gauge. We calculate the potential energy of $QQq$ systems as a function of the inter-heavy-quark distance $R$ in the range of $R le$ 0.8 fm. The $QQq$ potential is well described with a Coulomb plus linear potential, and the effective string tension between the two heavy quarks is significantly smaller than the string tension $sigma simeq 0.89$ GeV/fm. It would generally hold that the effect of the finite-mass valence quark reduces the inter-two-quark confinement force in baryons.
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