Large scale numerical simulation of the three-state Potts model

The three-state Potts model is numerically investigated on three-dimensional simple cubic lattices of up to ${128}^3$ volume, concentrating on the neighborhood of the first-order phase transition separating the ordered and disordered phases. The ordered phase is found to allow admixture of disordered domains induced by a long-range attraction acting between the two different non-favored spins. This phenomenon gives an explanation of why the first-order phase transitions associated with the global $Z_3$ symmetry are so weak. (Talk given at the International Symposium “Lattice 92” in Amsterdam, September 15-19, 1992)