The SU(3) deconfining phase transition with Symanzik action

We report on the determination of the deconfining temperature in SU(3) pure gauge theory, using the Symanzik tree level improved action, on lattices of size 3 x 12^3, 4 x 16^3, 5 x 20^3, 6 x24^3. We find that the asymptotic scaling violation pattern is similar to the one observed using the Wilson action. We conclude that the irrelevant operators do not affect, in the range of couplings considered, the lattice beta function. An analysis based on an effective coupling formulation shows an apparent improvement.