Recent thermodynamic results from lattice QCD analyzed within a quasi-particle model

The thermodynamic behavior of QCD matter at high temperature is currently studied by lattice QCD theory. The main features are the fast rise of the energy density ϵ around the critical temperature Tc and the large trace anomaly of the energy momentum tensor ⟨Θμμ⟩=ϵ-3P, which hints at a strongly interacting system. Such features can be accounted for by employing a massive quasiparticle model with a temperature-dependent bag constant. Recent lattice QCD calculations with physical quark masses by the Wuppertal-Budapest group show a slower increase of ϵ and a smaller ⟨Θμμ⟩ peak with respect to previous results from the HotQCD Collaboration. We investigate the implications of such differences from the point of view of a quasiparticle model, also discussing light and strange quark number susceptibilities. Furthermore, we predict the impact of these discrepancies on the temperature dependence of the transport properties of matter, like the shear and bulk viscosities.