Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / iii / Paper 303 / 1

The equilibrium magnetization is a global minimum of the Landau free energy. Its candidates are the stationary pointsThus $m=0$, or $x=m^2\ge 0$ is a nonnegative root ofOne retains candidates with nonnegative curvature $f^{\prime \prime }(m)$ and compares their free energies; the candidate with the smallest value is the equilibrium state. Equal global minima describe phase coexistence.

At the first-order phase transition, the central minimum $m=0$ and two nonzero minima $m=\pm m_0$ are degenerate, with barriers between them. Writing $x=m_0^2>0$, stationarity and equal free energies giveTheir difference gives $a_{4}x+2a_6{x}^2=0$, soThe magnitude of the magnetization therefore jumps from zero toThe two possible signs are related by the model's spin-reversal symmetry.

At the tricritical point, $a_4=0$ and the zero-field Landau free energy is $f=a_2{m}^2+a_6{m}^6$. Below $T_c$, minimization givesSince $a_2\sim T-T_c$, the order-parameter critical exponent isAt this minimum, $f_{\mathrm{sing}}=a_2{m}^2+a_6{m}^6$ is proportional to $-|T-T_c{|}^{3/2}$. Comparing this with $f_{\mathrm{sing}}\sim |T-T_c{|}^{2-\alpha }$ gives the heat-capacity critical exponentAfter adding the magnetic contribution $-Bm$, the inverse zero-field magnetic susceptibility is the curvature $f^{\prime \prime }(m)$. Above $T_c$ it is $2a_2$, while below $T_c$ it is $-8a_2$, so $\chi \sim |T-T_c{|}^{-1}$ and the magnetic-susceptibility critical exponent isFinally, exactly at $T_c$ the equation of state is $B=6a_6{m}^5$. Hence $m\sim B^{1/5}$ and the critical-isotherm exponent is

The mean-field approximation suppresses correlated order-parameter fluctuations. Near a continuous phase transition, the correlation length diverges and long-wavelength fluctuations become increasingly important. The Ginzburg criterion therefore fails in sufficiently low dimension, and the interacting renormalization-group fixed point changes the mean-field exponents. For the tricritical $m^6$ theory the upper critical dimension is three: below $d=3$ the exponents are generally non-mean-field, while at $d=3$ one expects logarithmic corrections to mean-field scaling.

This is the Blume–Capel model. In the mean-field approximation, write $m=⟨{\sigma }_i⟩$ and replaceBecause every site has coordination number $q$, the resulting energy isThe one-site partition function is thereforeWith $\kappa =e^{-\beta g}$, the mean-field partition function is $Z_{\mathrm{MF}}=e^{-\beta NJq{m}^2/2}{Z}_1^N$. Taking $F=-T\log Z_{\mathrm{MF}}$ gives

Set $B=0$, $h=\beta Jqm$, and $A=1+2\kappa$. The required power series is obtained fromThe quadratic Landau coefficient isIts vanishing gives the line of continuous transitionsThe quartic coefficient isAt a tricritical point, both $a_2$ and $a_4$ vanish. Since $A=1+2\kappa$, the condition $a_4=0$ gives $A=6\kappa$ and hence $\kappa =1/4$. Substitution into the critical line yieldsThe sextic coefficient is positive there, so the sixth-order term stabilizes the free energy. Equivalently, $g_{\mathrm{tri}}=T_{\mathrm{tri}}\log 4$.