TOWARDS THE CONTINUUM-LIMIT OF THE THERMODYNAMICS OF LATTICE QCD WITH A REALISTIC QUARK SPECTRUM

Lattice QCD with a light isodoublet and a heavier strange quark is simulated on a 6 x 12(3) lattice. Metastability studies on the 6 x 12(3) lattice give considerably weaker evidence for a first order transition than on a 4 X 8(3) lattice. Comparison of chiral condensates and energy densities with similar measurements on 4 x 8(3) and 4 x 12(3) lattices also indicate that the quark - gluon plasma transition becomes less abrupt as the lattice size increases and could be just a crossover phenomenon at the quark masses simulated here. The light quark and strange quark energy densities are suppressed in the transition region and approach their high temperature limits from below.