  The screening masses of hot SU(N) gauge theory, defined as poles of the
corresponding propagators are studied in 3d adjoint Higgs model, considered as
an effective theory of QCD, using coupled gap equations and lattice Monte-Carlo
simulations (for N=2). Using so-called lambda gauges non-perturbative evidence
for gauge independence of the pole masses within this class of gauges is given.
A possible application of the screening masses for the resummation of the free
energy is discussed.
