After a brief general overview of Monte Carlo computer simulations in statistical physics, special emphasis is placed on applications to phase transitions and critical phenomena. Here, standard simulations employing local update algorithms are severely hampered by the problem of critical slowing...

The specific Gibbs free energy has been calculated for the infinite range Ising model with fixed and finite interaction strength. The model shows a temperature driven first-order phase transition that differs from the infinite ranged Ising model with weak coupling. In the temperature-field phase...

We present ellipsometry and interferrometry experiments which allow us to observe the transition point between the standard first-order wetting and the long-range critical wetting. Moreover we provide a direct measurement of the free-energy singularities in the sequential wetting scenario of...

When confining vacuum fluctuations between two identical walls, the Casimir force manifests itself as a mutual attraction of the walls. When confining concentration fluctuations of a binary liquid mixture, an analogous force should exist near the critical temperature TC; it is called the critical...