Pion and kaon in the Beth-Uhlenbeck approach

In the present work the Mott effect for pions and kaons is described within a Beth- Uhlenbeck approach on the basis of the PNJL model. The contribution of these degrees of freedom to the thermodynamics is encoded in the temperature dependence of their phase shifts. A comparison with results from $N_f=2+1$ lattice QCD thermodynamics is performed.