Criticality in one dimension with inverse square-law potentials

It is demonstrated that the scaled order parameter for ferromagnetic Ising and three-state Potts chains with inverse-square interactions exhibits a universal critical jump, in analogy with the superfluid density in helium films. Renormalization-group arguments are combined with numerical simulations of systems containing up to one million lattice sites to accurately determine the critical properties of these models. In strong contrast with earlier work, compelling quantitative evidence for the Kosterlitz--Thouless-like character of the phase transition is provided.