SPECTRAL DENSITY STUDY OF THE SU(3) DECONFINING PHASE-TRANSITION

We present spectral density re-weighting techniques adapted to the analysis of a time series of data with a continuous range of allowed values. In a first application we analyze action and Polyakov line data from a Monte Carlo simulation on L(t)L3 (L(t) = 2, 4) lattices for the SU(3) deconfining phase transition. We calculate partition function zeros, as well as maxima of the specific heat and of the order parameter susceptibility. Details and warnings are given concerning (i) autocorrelations in computer time and (ii) a reliable extraction of partition function zeros. The finite-size scaling analysis of these data leads to precise results for the critical couplings beta(c), for the critical exponent-nu and for the latent heat DELTA-s. In both cases (L(t) = 2 and 4), the first-order nature of the transition is substantiated.