  The transport interaction rates of elastic scattering processes of thermal
partons in the quark-gluon plasma are calculated beyond the leading logarithm
approximation using the effective perturbation theory for QCD at finite
temperatures developed by Braaten and Pisarski. The results for the ordinary
and transport interaction rates obtained from the effective perturbation theory
are compared to perturbative approximations based on an infrared cut-off by the
Debye screening mass. The relevance of those interaction rates for a
quark-gluon plasma possibly formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions
are discussed.
