First-Order Phase Transitions and the Three-State Potts Model

We have used the Monte Carlo renormalization-group method to study the three-state Potts model in three and four dimensions. In both cases, we find a first-order transition without an associated discontinuity fixed point. The transition in three dimensions is ''almost second order'' in the sense that some evidence was found for the existence of second-order fixed points associated with singularities in the metastable region just beyond the first-order transition.