  The deconfinement transition in 3+1 dimensional gluodynamics is studied using
the gauge invariant variational method introduced by Kogan and Kovner a few
years ago. We identify a first order phase transition, characterized by a
discontinuous jump in the entropy of the system, resulting in a transparent
picture of the mechanism of deconfinement. The calculation of the ratio of the
transition temperature to the mass of the lightest glueball in the model yields
0.18 in complete agreement with the lattice estimate.
