Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford / 2022 / 1 / c / Solution

Differentiate the Helmholtz free energy at fixed couplings. With $\lambda ={\lambda }_{+}$ from solution, the entropy per spin isIt is particularly useful to writeAt $\bar{J}=J$, this is $3e^{\beta J}+e^{-3\beta J}$, so $f=-J/2-(\log 3)/(2\beta )+o({\beta }^{-1})$. For fixed $\bar{J}>J$, the first exponential dominates alone, giving $f=(J-2\bar{J})/2+o({\beta }^{-1})$. Hence the residual entropy isThe finite positive difference $\bar{J}-J$ must be kept fixed in the second limit; taking it to zero first gives the other answer.

At high temperature, $\lambda \to 4$ and $\beta {\partial }_{\beta }\log \lambda \to 0$, whenceAll $2^{2L}$ 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.