Dressed Polyakov loops and center symmetry from Dirac spectra

Abstract

We construct a novel observable for finite temperature QCD that relates confinement and chiral symmetry. It uses phases as boundary conditions for the fermions. We discuss numerical and analytical aspects of this observable, like its spectral behavior below and above the critical temperature, as well as the connection to chiral condensate and center symmetry.

Comments: talk given by F. Bruckmann at Confinement8, Mainz, Germany, September 1 - 6, 2008