Quasi-Particle Description of Strongly Interacting Matter: Towards a Foundation

We confront our quasi-particle model for the equation of state of strongly interacting matter with recent first-priciple QCD calculations. In particular, we test its applicability at finite baryon densities by comparing with Taylor expansion coefficients of the pressure for two quark flavours. We outline a chain of approximations starting from the Phi-functional approach to QCD which motivates the quasi-particle picture.