A connected correlation function with critical anomalous dimension scales as . If its large-distance shape is , substitution of produces the displayed amplitude. The extra relative to the massive Gaussian field correlation tail is necessary for matching at of order . Integrating over space gives magnetic susceptibility proportional to ; omitting that factor would instead make the long-distance contribution scale as .
Use for inverse temperature, to distinguish it from the order-parameter critical exponent . In a translation-invariant pure thermodynamic phase, the connected two-point correlation function is
For finite correlation length, at it decays exponentially, possibly with an algebraic prefactor; is the asymptotic exponential decay rate. Below an ordered transition the pure phase is selected by taking the thermodynamic limit before or . A zero-field symmetric mixture of the two ordered phases has a nondecaying connected term and does not describe the usual pure-phase magnetic susceptibility.
Let denote extensive physical free energy and . Since the field contributes to the statistical Hamiltonian, differentiation gives
Expanding the variance and using translation invariance proves the correlation-function susceptibility sum rule:
The sum includes . If the source is instead defined as the dimensionless quantity , the corresponding derivative omits the displayed inverse-temperature factor.
A real-space renormalization group step of length factor uses a local blocking kernel satisfying . For example, a deterministic majority-spin rule assigns one coarse Ising spin to each block; tied blocks can be resolved with equal probabilities. Define the blocked statistical Hamiltonian by
The spacing becomes . All generated interactions, including multispin terms and the field-independent constant, must be retained for an exact transformation. Summing over uses normalization to prove . Iteration gives and .
The coarse probability law is the exact marginal law of these block variables. Indeed, for any coarse observable , its expected value is the microscopic expected value of . A blocking rule that retains the long-wavelength order-parameter mode, with source and observable transformations tracked, therefore retains long-distance response and correlation functions. Their field normalization may change, while their physical length scales and critical singularities do not. Partition-function equality alone would not justify this assertion for an arbitrary kernel that discards all slow variables. Truncating the generated operator family is likewise an approximation.
For the free-energy recursion use dimensionless free energy per site,
in the thermodynamic limit. Exact partition-function invariance gives . If one step sends to , the coefficient records the identity-operator contribution from eliminated fluctuations and normalization. Consequently
Repeated substitution derives the additive free-energy recursion under blocking:
In physical energy units, divide this convention by . The additive term is essential for absolute free energies even when it does not affect the leading critical powers.
A renormalization-group fixed point satisfies . Linearize in scaling coordinates so that . A relevant operator has , an irrelevant operator has , and a marginal operator has with behaviour decided by nonlinear terms. Thus the eigenvalues of the discrete linear map are ; the sign criterion applies to the generator exponents , not to the discrete multipliers. The critical surface is the stable manifold on which every relevant scaling field has been tuned away. Irrelevant coordinates flow to the renormalization-group fixed point along it. A repulsive renormalization-group trajectory leaves the renormalization-group fixed point along an unstable relevant direction, ultimately entering a noncritical phase or another scaling regime.
Figure 1.
Local renormalization-group flow in the zero-field slice: attraction along the critical surface and repulsion in the thermal direction
. Details.
To separate the singular free-energy density from its regular background, suppose the eliminated-mode contribution is analytic near the renormalization-group fixed point. Look for an analytic background satisfying . Then satisfies . In linear thermal and field coordinates, an analytic monomial has background coefficient
provided the denominator is nonzero. This explicitly explains when analytic subtraction of an inhomogeneous renormalization recursion works. The printed inhomogeneous equation may describe the free-energy function before this subtraction, or a singular part defined only up to analytic terms. The inhomogeneous sum need not be small compared with the full free energy: an analytic constant can dominate a vanishing singular contribution. It can be omitted in deriving leading singular powers after regular subtraction, provided no renormalization-group free-energy resonance, marginal logarithm or dangerously irrelevant coupling obstructs the homogeneous critical asymptotics. At a renormalization-group free-energy resonance , additive logarithms can remain, so simply dropping the term would miss them.
Suppose there are exactly two relevant scaling fields, thermal and magnetic , with positive exponents , and the remaining fields approach a regular limit. Physical reduced temperature and magnetic field agree with these coordinates to leading order, up to nonuniversal metric factors. The homogeneous scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena is
as an asymptotic scaling equation. Choose to make the thermal argument or . Defining gives
The two functions describe respectively and : approaching the transition from disordered and ordered sides need not give the same function. In particular the ordered zero-field function has one-sided derivatives associated with spontaneous magnetization. Metric factors multiply this formula in different microscopic normalizations.
The correlation length in Bravais lattice units obeys . At , the same choice of gives . Two thermal derivatives of give . One and two field derivatives give, respectively, and , assuming the relevant branch amplitudes are nonzero. At , choose ; then , so . Hence
Simple algebra now gives the Rushbrooke scaling relation and the hyperscaling relation . Also , giving the Widom scaling relation. These statements refer to leading singular contributions with the homogeneous two-field scaling assumptions. Above the upper critical dimension, the quartic coupling is dangerously irrelevant because it is still needed to stabilize the ordered phase; ordinary mean-field critical exponents then satisfy Rushbrooke and Widom but generally not hyperscaling. Marginal logarithms also require qualifications at the upper critical dimension.
For the connected-correlation scaling form , the function tends to a finite nonzero value as and decays exponentially at large , up to powers of , in a massive short-range phase. The scaling ansatz alone does not fix that prefactor. If the usual massive Gaussian field correlation tail applies, matching the powers gives , with a correlation-length-dependent amplitude in fixed by matching the critical scaling form.
In physical coordinates the lattice sum has site-density factor . Its long-distance singular part therefore gives
where is the area of the unit sphere in dimensions. For , finite , an integrable exponential tail and a nonzero integral, the last factor tends to a finite nonzero constant as . Microscopic distances contribute a regular background. Thus , proving the Fisher scaling relation
Equivalently the field has scaling dimension , so its conjugate field has , which gives the same identity from the exponent formulas above.
Use the connected correlation function in a selected pure thermodynamic phase. The exponential correlation length is defined by , when this limit exists in the chosen direction. Linearizing the Landau-Ginzburg theory around a stable uniform minimum gives
Hence the Landau scalar correlation length is . Away from criticality the massive Gaussian field correlation tail behaves as , up to its amplitude. At a continuous transition tends to zero, so diverges and fields vary on scales much longer than the lattice spacing. This motivates a gradient expansion, but the simultaneous growth of correlated fluctuations is precisely why the Ginzburg criterion must be checked.
Use for inverse temperature, to distinguish it from the order-parameter exponent. In a translation-invariant pure thermodynamic phase, the connected correlation function is
The subtraction is essential below the transition. Its exponential correlation length is defined by , with direction specified if the lattice is anisotropic. Away from criticality, has a tail proportional to times an algebraic prefactor. In the massive continuum scalar approximation that prefactor is ; at criticality the exponential cutoff disappears and instead. The large-distance limit here is , as the PDF shows.
Let . With the energy convention , the magnetization per site and magnetic susceptibility are
Writing , direct differentiation of the partition function gives . Thus the correlation-function susceptibility sum rule is
In physical continuum coordinates the lattice sum becomes , so omitting the site-density factor would change the normalization. A derivative with respect to the dimensionless source instead absorbs the explicit inverse-temperature factor.
An exact renormalization-group transformation with length factor can be defined by a nonnegative normalized blocking kernel satisfying . A deterministic majority rule is one example; randomized tie-breaking preserves its normalization. Define the blocked energy, including its constant, by
Summing over proves . All generated operators must be retained for this identity to remain exact; a finite-coupling truncation is an approximation. After iterations, and the spacing is . Long-distance physics is preserved because this is a marginalization of microscopic probabilities, with observables and sources transformed along with the energy. It integrates short-distance variables rather than changing their effects on retained observables. Physical lengths remain fixed even though the correlation length in units of the new spacing is reduced by .
For clarity, now use dimensionless free energy per site . Exact equality of the partition functions gives
A constant microscopic energy shifts every blocked weight by the same factor, so . Substitution at one step yields the additive free-energy recursion under blocking
Induction now gives the requested relation
The function is the identity-operator contribution to renormalization-group free energy: it records eliminated-mode entropy, integration constants and normalization factors. A free-energy function satisfying this inhomogeneous equation need not be purely singular until its analytic background has been subtracted.
At a renormalization-group fixed point, . Linearize in scaling coordinates so . Here is a scaling exponent, not the discrete multiplier itself. A positive gives a relevant operator, a negative one an irrelevant operator, and zero a marginal operator. The critical surface is the stable manifold: tune every relevant scaling field to zero and the irrelevant coordinates flow toward . A repulsive renormalization-group trajectory leaves along a relevant direction; it can still have irrelevant coordinates contracting toward that manifold. The plot shows the section when temperature and field are relevant: is the critical line in this section, while an independent nonzero field is another direction away from criticality.
Figure 1.
Renormalization-group trajectories near a critical fixed point, showing thermal repulsion and irrelevant contraction in the zero-field section
. Details.
The inhomogeneous term cannot simply be discarded from the full free energy. If an analytic background solves , its subtraction leaves obeying homogeneous scaling. For example, in linear thermal and field coordinates, a source monomial is removed by
When the denominator vanishes, the source is resonant and can instead produce a logarithm. Thus the homogeneous singular equation is justified after analytic subtraction when there is no relevant resonance affecting the leading singularity, no marginal logarithm that has been omitted, and no singular dependence on a dangerously irrelevant coupling. Merely saying that is regular is insufficient to discard the whole weighted sum without this analysis.
Under these assumptions, with two relevant scaling fields , choose so that is of order one. The scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena then gives
Writing recovers the PDF's notation:
The sign labels the two matching branches and , which enter different phases when the flow leaves the critical neighborhood. The constants retain a branch-dependent identity contribution or a chosen split of the scaling function. They are determined by the same matching problem, not independently adjustable nonuniversal free-energy offsets. An arbitrary analytic offset from belongs to the subtracted background. The formula describes the singular part; adding that background recovers the full physical free energy.
At , restore the common metric factors as . Their ratio at equal is , proving the expected universal singular free-energy amplitude ratio because and cancel. The ratio of full free energies including an arbitrary regular is not universal; zero amplitudes and logarithmic resonances also require separate treatment.
The critical exponents are obtained by rescaling and differentiating, not by identifying them with the discrete multipliers. The correlation length obeys , hence . Two temperature derivatives of give , while one and two field derivatives give the ordered magnetization and susceptibility powers. Thus
For , instead set and choose the blocking scale by , obtaining and then differentiate. A nonzero spontaneous ordered-branch derivative is assumed in the formula for . In particular the hyperscaling relation is . Its physical assumption is an order-one singular free energy per correlation volume, with a single diverging length and no dangerous variable changing its volume scaling. Above the upper critical dimension, a stabilizing quartic coupling can invalidate that assumption even though the correlation length still scales.
For the last model, take the quadratic Hamiltonian exactly as visually printed: its source term is , outside the half multiplying the gradient and mass terms. With and , its connected quadratic covariance is proportional to
The pole scale, or the massive Gaussian field correlation tail obtained by its Fourier transform, gives
The uniform source shifts the mean to and does not change the connected covariance. Replacing by matches the earlier magnetic source convention without changing any scaling index.
Define a Gaussian thinning transformation by retaining momenta , integrating the Gaussian shell, and rescaling
The gradient coefficient is unchanged. Counting volume and field powers in the remaining action gives
Shell integration contributes only the additive determinant term. Thus when the thermal variable is proportional to , and . Inserting these into the homogeneous index formulas gives the requested Gaussian critical exponents
The specific-heat power can also be verified without hyperscaling: two mass-squared derivatives of produce an integral proportional to . For , rescaling gives ; at the divergence is logarithmic, with power index zero. At the determinant itself has an additive resonance, although its heat-capacity power remains one.
There is a genuine limitation to the last printed request. The Gaussian order-parameter scaling index is formal: a pure quadratic theory has at , and at the uniform energy is unbounded below, so its partition function diverges. It therefore has no stable ordered branch from which a spontaneous-magnetization exponent can be measured. The thinning derivation establishes the index requested by the PDF, but not a nonexistent ordered phase. A stabilizing quartic interaction is relevant for and generally changes these Gaussian indices to the interacting critical ones.
The connected generating functional is . Its second functional source derivative gives the connected correlation function; the source-independent determinant drops out. Translational invariance therefore gives
This covariance is independent of the source in a purely Gaussian theory; at zero source the mean field vanishes.
Fourier inversion can be evaluated with the Schwinger parameterization. Since , the elementary Fourier transform of a Gaussian gives
where is the Modified Bessel function of the second kind. This integral formula also gives both asymptotic regimes directly.
For , set . The integral tends to the gamma function integral ; this is finite for . Hence, at distances larger than the microscopic cutoff,
For , the exponent has its minimum at , with value . Gaussian expansion about that saddle, or the large-argument asymptotic expansion of a modified Bessel function, gives . Therefore
This is the massive Gaussian field correlation tail with its normalization displayed. For example gives exactly , verifying both regimes and the exponential length scale.
Take a positive gradient coefficient , a positive squared mass, a finite-volume regulator and an ultraviolet cutoff. Use the dimensionless statistical action convention : inverse temperature is absorbed into the coefficients. If denotes dimensional energy instead, the exponent below gains a factor and the covariance gains . These conventions cannot be mixed.
Choose the Fourier transform convention
Integration of the quadratic gradient and source terms gives
Complete the square with . Translation of the regulated real Gaussian variables leaves their measure unchanged, so the Gaussian integral gives
Here is the source-free Gaussian partition function. For independent regulated real coordinates and a positive quadratic matrix , it is under Lebesgue normalization. The continuum determinant needs the stated regulator and a measure convention. Reality pairs the nonzero Fourier modes, so they must not be counted as two independent real fields.
A connected correlation function subtracts the product of the means. The logarithm generates its cumulants: differentiating twice with respect to the source, using the measure in the functional derivative convention, yields
The source changes the mean but not the covariance; the stated zero-source limit therefore follows immediately. Momentum conservation uses , appropriate for a real field without complex conjugation on either displayed factor.
For the continuum massive Gaussian field correlation tail, set and . Fourier inversion gives
The large-argument Modified Bessel function of the second kind has . Hence is proportional to at large distance and
At zero mass the exponential length diverges. For the critical continuum tail is algebraic, ; in lower dimensions infrared regulation needs additional care.
For a uniform source , perform a momentum-shell renormalization group step: separate slow modes and fast modes . In a Gaussian field theory they decouple; the uniform source couples only to the retained zero mode. Integrating fast modes contributes only a field-independent determinant to the free energy. Restore the cutoff by , and
The factors from the measure, gradient and two fields cancel in the gradient term. The mass term gains , and the linear source gains . Therefore
Here is the positive mass; for signed thermal coordinates it is the squared-mass relation that applies. The Gaussian fixed point has thermal scaling eigenvalue , source eigenvalue and zero anomalous dimension.
Under the formal homogeneous Gaussian scaling hypothesis, substitution of those eigenvalues gives
The last two values are independently visible in and , agreeing with Landau-Ginzburg theory. The specific-heat power follows directly from the determinant: after two thermal derivatives its singular contribution is proportional to
The change of variables proves this power because the rescaled integral converges at large exactly when . The two-dimensional free energy itself has a resonance, while its second derivative still has the indicated power.
The printed magnetization exponent is a formal Gaussian scaling index, not a proved ordered-phase law of the purely quadratic model. The ordered-phase obstruction in a Gaussian scalar model is explicit: the uniform field has energy density . At it tends to as , and the partition function diverges. For , the mean is and tends to zero as , so there is no spontaneously ordered branch. Thus no literal for can be established from this Statistical Hamiltonian alone. The value follows from the scaling dimension of the field if one assumes such a branch; for its nonpositive value further warns against that interpretation. Adding a stabilizing quartic interaction defines an ordered phase, but below four dimensions that interaction is relevant and generally leads to the Wilson-Fisher fixed point, not these Gaussian thermodynamic powers.
For the Gaussian specific-heat infrared threshold, at the same determinant integral grows like , so as a power exponent, with a logarithmic divergence. For , it has a finite cutoff-dependent limit; the leading heat capacity is a regular constant and has no divergent power, again described by in the requested convention. After subtraction of this background the Gaussian singular term can still have the negative power index ; it is not correct to erase that distinction. In a stable quartic Landau-Ginzburg theory above four dimensions, the quartic coefficient is a dangerously irrelevant coupling: it is needed for the ordered phase and contributes , giving the mean-field specific-heat jump and while invalidating naive hyperscaling relation. At four dimensions, marginal interactions can add further logarithmic corrections. The agreement with Landau theory is in the leading heat-capacity power; it does not assert the absence of logarithms or supply a missing stable Gaussian ordered phase.