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For a scalar Landau free energy $f=a{\varphi }^2/2+b{\varphi }^4/4+c{\varphi }^3/3+d\varphi$ with $b>0$, the shift $\varphi =\psi -c/(3b)$ removes the cubic term. The quadratic coefficient becomes $a^{\prime }=a-c^2/(3b)$ and the linear coefficient becomes $d^{\prime }=d-ac/(3b)+2c^3/(27b^2)$. In a closed binary fluid mixture, the linear term is constant at fixed total composition, leaving the symmetric quartic phase coexistence construction in the shifted variable.

The field $\varphi$ is a compositional order parameter in a binary fluid mixture. Its spatial integral is conserved in a closed sample, so advection and diffusion enter a continuity equation; the material derivative follows the incompressible fluid. The diffusive current $\mathbf{J}=-M\nabla \mu$, with positive order-parameter mobility $M$, moves material down the chemical potential gradient. The chemical potential of a composition field is the functional derivative of the symmetric quartic Landau free energyso $\mu =a\varphi +b{\varphi }^3-\kappa {\nabla }^2\varphi$. Positive $b,\kappa$ stabilize large amplitudes and penalize sharp interfaces; $a<0$ permits phase separation.

The momentum equation is the Navier-Stokes equation with dynamic viscosity $\eta$, constant mass density $\rho$, and the Korteweg force $-\varphi \nabla \mu$ arising from composition stresses. The pressure enforces incompressible flow, $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{v}=0$, and can absorb pure gradient contributions to that thermodynamic force. For example, $-\varphi \nabla \mu =\mu \nabla \varphi -\nabla (\varphi \mu )$ gives an equivalent force after redefining the pressure. These equations constitute deterministic Model H dynamics.

Their dissipative signs can be checked by the energy dissipation identity for Model H. Under periodic or no-flux, no-work boundary conditions, composition advection and capillary work cancel between $F$ and the kinetic energy, givingThus diffusion and viscosity dissipate energy, while the reversible advective coupling transfers it between composition and motion. Thermal noises are omitted at this deterministic hydrodynamic level.

Take $b>0$ for a stable quartic Landau free energy. The cubic-term removal in a conserved quartic Landau free energy uses $\varphi =\psi -c/(3b)$ and gives, apart from a constant,For a closed binary fluid mixture, the compositional order parameter has fixed integral. Adding $d\int \varphi$ therefore adds the same constant to every allowed state. Equivalently, in the common-tangent construction for phase coexistence, a linear term changes the tangent slope, hence the chemical potential, by $d$, but leaves the coexistence compositions unchanged. This is why linear composition bias leaves coexistence compositions unchanged; it would not mean an unchanged composition at a fixed externally imposed chemical potential.

In the shifted variable, the binodal compositions are ${\psi }_{\pm }=\pm \sqrt{-a^{\prime }/b}$ for $a^{\prime }<0$. They merge atThe continuous phase transition therefore has the same scalar quartic Landau theory as the symmetric binary fluid mixture, with a shifted critical composition and control parameter. In the mean-field approximation, the composition difference vanishes with order-parameter critical exponent $1/2$. This argument presumes the critical composition lies in the physically accessible composition range; conservation affects the dynamics, not this static phase coexistence construction.

A scalar coupling linear in the nematic order parameter requires a second-rank anisotropy. A single electric field supplies no such tensor, while $E_i{E}_j$ does. Its isotropic part gives $E^2\mathrm{Tr}Q=0$. Hence the lowest joint order in $E$ and $Q$ of the electric-field coupling to nematic order isTerms depending only on $E$ do not affect minimization over $Q$. With $\vartheta$ the angle between the nematic director and the electric field,For $\chi \lambda >0$, the lowest free energy occurs at ${\cos }^2\vartheta =1$, so the nematic director aligns along either $+\mathbf{E}$ or $-\mathbf{E}$. Then $E_i{Q}_{ij}{E}_j=\lambda E^2$, givingUnlike the linear composition term in a conserved binary fluid mixture, this term changes the equilibrium nematic order parameter: its spatial integral is not fixed.

For a binary fluid mixture, the scalar compositional order parameter $\varphi (\mathbf{r})$ may be taken as the local concentration difference between its two molecular species. Its spatial integral is fixed by their separately fixed total amounts:Locally, $\varphi$ can change only through transport and therefore obeys a continuity equation. By contrast, $\mathbf{p}$ is the local polar order parameter measuring the mean tail-to-head orientation of the surfactant molecules. Individual molecules can rotate in place, so the integral of $\mathbf{p}$ need not be conserved.

The thermodynamic order parameter is the conserved scalar composition difference $\varphi$ of the binary fluid mixture. The momentum density $\rho \mathbf{v}$ is an additional conserved hydrodynamic mode; it is not a symmetry-breaking order parameter, but it must be retained because momentum relaxes only through spatial transport.

Composition conservation gives a continuity equation,The current $\mathbf{J}=-M\nabla \mu$ is the leading isotropic, dissipative constitutive law: it drives material down gradients of the chemical potential. For the Landau-Ginzburg theorythe functional derivative isThese statements give the advective Cahn--Hilliard equation.

Constant mass density and incompressible flow require $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{v}=0$. Momentum conservation gives the Navier-Stokes equation: material acceleration equals the sum of the Newtonian viscous force $\eta {\nabla }^2\mathbf{v}$, the pressure force $-\nabla P$, and the Korteweg force $-\varphi \nabla \mu$. The pressure is the Lagrange multiplier enforcing incompressibility. Together these equations are Model H dynamics; isothermality removes the need for a separate energy equation.

For a binary fluid mixture, the compositional order parameter $\varphi (\mathbf{r})$ may be taken as the local concentration difference between the two species. In a closed systemis fixed by the total amount of each species. This is the sense in which $\varphi$ is conserved; locally it changes through a current and obeys a continuity equation.

For a symmetric mixture, the Landau-Ginzburg theory free energy isA term $h{\int }_V\varphi ,d\mathbf{r}$ is constant on the allowed configurations and therefore changes neither equilibrium probabilities nor the dynamics. Equivalently, it merely shifts the chemical potential by a spatial constant, whose gradient vanishes.