Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2022/1/c/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford 2022 1 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Differentiate the Helmholtz free energy at fixed couplings. With from solution, the entropy per spin isIt is particularly useful to writeAt , this is , so . For fixed , the first exponential dominates alone, giving . Hence the residual entropy isThe finite positive difference must be kept fixed in the second limit; taking it to zero first gives the other answer.
At high temperature, and , whenceAll configurations become equally probable because their Boltzmann factors tend to one. The two available states per spin, rather than the coupling values, determine this entropy.
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