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ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-42/1/iv/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 42 1 iv Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Critical exponents describe leading power-law singularities as the reduced temperature and the conjugate field tend to zero. Their amplitudes depend on microscopic details, while the exponents are characteristic of a universality class. Define on a selected ordered branch, at zero field, for the singular heat capacity, and . Also define and . In these statements is the order-parameter critical exponent, not inverse temperature.
Assume with and a nonzero positive quartic coefficient . Minimizing the quartic potential gives , hence . Differentiating its equation of state givesso with different amplitudes. At , , giving . The minimized potential is zero above the transition and below, so its second temperature derivative has a finite jump: .
The quadratic fluctuation kernel around the stable uniform minimum is , so . Since is above and below, . Its critical momentum dependence is , giving . Thus the ordinary mean-field critical exponents areThese are predictions of the Landau approximation, whose validity is constrained by the Ginzburg criterion; they need not be the exponents of the fluctuating theory below its upper critical dimension.
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