HTL quasiparticle picture of the thermodynamics of QCD

Starting from a nonperturbative expression for entropy and density obtained from $\mathrm{\Phi }$-derivable two-loop approximations to the thermodynamic potential, a quasiparticle model for the thermodynamics of QCD can be developed which incorporates the physics of hard thermal loops and leads to a reorganization of the otherwise ill-behaved thermal perturbation theory through order ${\alpha }_s^{3\mathrm{/}2}$. Some details of this reorganization are discussed and the differences to simpler quasiparticle models highlighted. A comparison with available lattice data shows remarkable agreement down to temperatures of $\sim 2.5 T_c$.