Thermodynamics of (2+1)-flavor QCD: Confronting models with lattice studies

The Polyakov-quark-meson model, which combines chiral as well as deconfinement aspects of strongly interacting matter, is introduced for three light quark flavors. An analysis of the chiral and deconfinement phase transition of the model and its thermodynamics at finite temperatures is given. Three different forms of the effective Polyakov-loop potential are considered. The findings of the 2 + 1 flavor model investigations are compared to corresponding recent QCD lattice simulations of the RBC-Bielefeld, HotQCD and Wuppertal-Budapest collaborations. The influence of the heavier quark masses, which are used in the lattice calculations, is taken into account. In the transition region the bulk thermodynamics of the Polyakov-quark-meson model agrees well with the lattice data.