Gluon quasiparticles and the Polyakov loop

Abstract A synthesis of Polyakov loop models of the deconfinement transition and quasiparticle models of gluon plasma thermodynamics leads to a class of models in which gluon quasiparticles move in a non-trivial Polyakov loop background. These models are successful candidates for explaining both critical behavior and the equation of state for the SU(3) gauge theory at temperatures above the deconfinement temperature Tc. Polyakov loops effects are most important at intermediate temperatures from Tc up to roughly 2.5Tc, while quasiparticle mass effects provide the dominant correction to blackbody behavior at higher temperatures.