A direct connection between the solid-liquid transition in atomic clusters and the macroscopic phase transition is established through analysis of the size scaling of the latent heat and transition rounding. The transition occurs without phase separation, leading to remarkable consequences in caloric experiments. These features are all quantified through the characteristic shape of the classical state density, computed by a new Monte Carlo method.

• Received 18 May 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.65.1567