Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / iii / Paper 303 / 1 / a / i / Solution

The equilibrium magnetization is a global minimum of the Landau free energy. Its stationary values solve the polynomial equationand a local minimum must satisfyOne compares the value of $f$ at every such local minimum and chooses the smallest. Since $a_6>0$, the polynomial tends to positive infinity as $|m|$ tends to infinity, so a global minimum exists.