Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ii/paper-4/32c/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 4 32C iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The single-spin average in the effective field is . Requiring it to equal the assumed average gives the mean-field self-consistency equationAt , the slope of its right side at the origin is . Thus . For , is the only solution and is the stable minimum: thermal fluctuations dominate. For , two stable nonzero solutions represent spontaneous magnetization, while the zero solution is unstable. At they merge continuously. Expanding near the transition yields , so the mean-field critical exponent is one-half. These are predictions of the approximation, not a proof of the exact Ising transition in every dimension.
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