Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/iii/paper-51/1/e/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 51 1 e Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let , and suppose with while and remain finite at the transition. Critical exponents describe the leading singular powers: below the transition, , , , , and .
The quartic equation of state immediately gives at zero field below the transition, so . Differentiating with respect to the conjugate field gives , which is above and below; therefore . At , with its real sign, giving . The quadratic correlation function has and critical Ornstein--Zernike correlation function proportional to , giving and .
Finally the minimized potential below the transition is , while it is zero above. Its second temperature derivative is a finite step, so the mean-field heat-capacity critical exponent is . In particular,These are derived mean-field critical exponents. In the fluctuation-dominated critical region of a phase transition, one instead derives exponents from the scaling eigenvalues of the renormalization-group fixed point, as in the next question. A zero heat-capacity power exponent can also accompany logarithms in other theories, so specifying the power alone does not completely describe that singularity.
New to topics? Read the docs here!