 Solution

Mean-field theory replaces fluctuating interactions with the average field produced by the other degrees of freedom. For an interacting spin system, write ${\mathbf{S}}_i=\mathbf{S}+\delta {\mathbf{S}}_i$ and neglect connected products $\delta {\mathbf{S}}_i\cdot \delta {\mathbf{S}}_j$. This reduces the many-body partition function to independent single-site factors coupled through a self-consistency equation for $\mathbf{S}$.

The approximation is most reliable when many effectively independent neighbors contribute, for sufficiently long-range interactions, or above the upper critical dimension away from the fluctuation-dominated critical region. It usually becomes least reliable near a continuous transition in low dimensions, where correlations extend over long distances. It can estimate ordering scales and reveal candidate broken symmetries while giving incorrect critical exponents or even a spurious transition. The two-dimensional isotropic model in the later parts is an especially important example of this limitation.