  The values of renormalized Polyakov loops in the three lowest representations
of SU(3) were measured numerically on the lattice. We find that in magnitude,
condensates respect the large-N property of factorization. In several ways, the
deconfining phase transition for N=3 appears to be like that in the N=infinity
matrix model of Gross and Witten. Surprisingly, we find that the values of the
renormalized triplet loop are described by an SU(3) matrix model, with an
effective action dominated by the triplet loop. Future numerical simulations
with a larger number of colors should be able to show whether or not the
deconfining phase transition is close to the Gross-Witten point.

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;High Energy Physics - Lattice;High Energy Physics - Theory