Theory and Phenomenology of the Polyakov loop in QCD Thermodynamics

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 gluons 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 finite temperature. Two sensitive lattice probes which can discriminate between models are the Polyakov loop P and e-3p.