Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-i-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/3/g/solution

For a homogeneous saddle-point approximation define . With the cubic source coupling, minimizing the Landau free energy gives
Its curvature is positive, so there is a unique local minimum and global minimum. The solution near has
because substituting this leading term makes the cubic self-interaction of order . Therefore the cubic source coupling and third-order susceptibility give
Thus the first nonzero response diverges like from above. The factor is essential: the coefficient of is not itself the third derivative. This is susceptibility to the specified cubic source variable, rather than the usual third-order response to a linearly coupled field.

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