The Polyakov Loop and the Eigenvalues of the Dirac Operator

Aiming at the link between confinement and chiral symmetry the Polyakov loop represented as a spectral sum of eigenvalues of the Dirac operator was subject of recent studies. We analyze the volume dependence as well as the continuum behavior of this quantity for quenched QCD using staggered fermions. Furthermore, we present first results using dynamical configurations.