CANONICAL VERSUS MICROCANONICAL ANALYSIS OF FIRST-ORDER PHASE-TRANSITIONS

I discuss the relation between canonical and microcanonical analyses o f first-order phase transitions. In particular it is shown that the mi crocanonical Maxwell construction is equivalent to the equal-peak-heig ht criterion often employed in canonical simulations. As a consequence the microcanonical finite-size estimators for the transition point, l atent heat and interface tension are identical to standard estimators in the canonical ensemble. Special emphasis is placed on various ways for estimating interface tensions. The theoretical considerations are illustrated with numerical data for the two-dimensional 10-state Potts model.