Complete analysis of phase transitions and ensemble equivalence for the Curie-Weiss-Potts model

Using the theory of large deviations, we analyze the phase transition structure of the Curie-Weiss-Potts spin model, which is a mean-field approximation to the nearest-neighbor Potts model. It is equivalent to the Potts model on the complete graph on n vertices. The analysis is carried out both for the canonical ensemble and the microcanonical ensemble. Besides giving explicit formulas for the microcanonical entropy and for the equilibrium macrostates with respect to the two ensembles, we analyze ensemble equivalence and nonequivalence at the level of equilibrium macrostates, relating these to concavity and support properties of the microcanonical entropy. The Curie-Weiss-Potts model is the first statistical mechanical model for which such a detailed and rigorous analysis has been carried out. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.