Precise determination of Tc in QCD from scaling -: art. no. 034507

Existing lattice data on the QCD phase transition are analyzed in renormalized perturbation theory. In quenched QCD it is found that T-c scales for lattices with only three time slices, and that T-c/Lambda((MM)) over bar = 1.15 +/- 0.05. A preliminary estimate in QCD with two flavors of dynamical quarks shows that this ratio depends on the quark mass. For realistic quark masses we estimate T-c/<((MS))over bar>= 0.49 +/-0.02. We also investigate the equation of state in quenched QCD at 1-loop order in renormalized perturbation theory.