  The quark propagator at finite temperature is investigated using quenched
gauge configurations. The propagator form factors are investigated for
temperatures above and below the gluon deconfinement temperature $T_c$ and for
the various Matsubara frequencies. Significant differences between the
functional behaviour below and above $T_c$ are observed both for the quark wave
function and the running quark mass. The results for the running quark mass
indicate a strong link between gluon dynamics, the mechanism for chiral
symmetry breaking and the deconfinement mechanism. For temperatures above $T_c$
and for low momenta, our results support also a description of quarks as free
quasi-particles.
