Analysis of the Density of Partition Function Zeroes - A Measure for Phase Transition Strength

We discuss a numerical analysis employing the density of partition function zeroes which permits effective distinction between phase transitions of first and second order, elucidates crossover between such phase transitions and gives a new way to measure their strengths in the form of latent heat and critical exponents. Application to a number of models demonstrates the efficacy of the technique.
Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX, 3 postscript figures, to appear in: Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed Matter Physics XIV, ed. by D.P. Landau, S.P Lewis, and H.-B. Sch"uttler