The spectrum of screening masses near T_c: predictions from universality

We discuss the spectrum of screening masses in a pure gauge theory near the deconfinement temperature from the point of view of the dimensionally reduced model describing the spontaneous breaking of the center symmetry. Universality arguments can be used to predict the values of the mass ratios in the scaling region of the deconfined phase when the transition is of second order. One such prediction is that the scalar sector of the screening spectrum in SU(2) pure gauge theory contains a bound state of the fundamental excitation, corresponding through universality to the bound state found in the 3D Ising model and \phi^4 theory in the broken symmetry phase. A Monte Carlo evaluation of the screening masses in the gauge theory confirms the validity of the prediction. We briefly discuss the possibility of using similar arguments for first order deconfinement transitions and, in particular, for the physically relevant case of SU(3).