69 research outputs found
Numerical comparison of two approaches for the study of phase transitions in small systems
We compare two recently proposed methods for the characterization of phase
transitions in small systems. The validity and usefulness of these approaches
are studied for the case of the q=4 and q=5 Potts model, i.e. systems where a
thermodynamic limit and exact results exist. Guided by this analysis we discuss
then the helix-coil transition in polyalanine, an example of structural
transitions in biological molecules.Comment: 16 pages and 7 figure
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