Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/iii/paper-41/1/iv/solution

Critical exponents describe singular behavior near a continuous phase transition. Define below , susceptibility , singular heat capacity , and critical isotherm . The ordinary quartic Landau free energy gives the equation of state
At zero field its ordered minimum is proportional to . Differentiating the equation of state gives , proportional to on either side. At , , and the minimized free energy below the transition is proportional to . Thus
Here denotes a finite heat-capacity jump, rather than a power divergence. Including gradients gives the Landau scalar correlation length and correlation-length exponent .

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