Degrees of Freedom and the Deconfining Phase Transition

There is a sharp increase in the relative number of degrees of freedom at the deconfining phase transition. Characterizing this increase using the Polyakov Loop model, we find that for a nearly second order deconfining phase transition, the medium-induced energy loss turns on rapidly above T_c, proportional to the relative number of degrees of freedom. Further, energy loss is logarithmically dependent on the screening mass, and thus is sensitive to nearly critical scattering.