The post-quench Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process has . Its future noise is independent of the initial field. Consequently the cross term between the initial Fourier mode and its future noise integral has zero expectation. The Itô isometry, or the given white-noise covariance, then yields
The initial Gaussian Boltzmann distribution, with , gives in the same unitary normalization. Thus the Gaussian Model A quench has
The static structure factor interpolates monotonically mode by mode between its two positive equilibrium values. The covariance relaxes at twice the amplitude decay rate. These statements assume that , and are unchanged by the quench; both exclude a spinodal instability.
The covariance of a centered multivariate Gaussian distribution is the inverse of its quadratic kernel. Writing , one finds
Consequently the composition static structure factor is
For a damped ferromagnetic spin wave, shifting both poles into the lower half-plane preserves causality:
Its spectral function is
The classical Fluctuation-dissipation theorem then gives
Hence the zero-frequency static structure factor is
which has the stated proportionality after absorbing the normalization .
Write , so , and take . The small-wavenumber static structure factor behaves as
The spatial Fourier transform of in dimensions scales as . Thus
and in three dimensions . Since this two-point correlation function tends to zero rather than to a nonzero constant at large separation, it is incompatible with true long-range ferromagnetic order and hence with spontaneous symmetry breaking at this higher temperature.
Use the Fourier transform convention
The zero mode vanishes because the compositional order parameter has zero spatial average. Parseval identity and the Fourier transform of a derivative turn the quadratic part of the dimensionless free energy into
Here is the positive-wavevector sum for a real field. Each independent complex amplitude has density proportional to , so its elementary Gaussian integral gives the static structure factor
whenever .
The stationary points of the Brazovskii model kernel obey
Because , the nonzero minimum is the nonzero-wavevector soft-mode sphere
At this wavevector,
The first Gaussian field theory divergence therefore occurs at
Write the optimized kernel as
Near the soft-mode sphere, the supplied asymptotic result says
Thus the self-consistency equation
cannot reach for any : the fluctuation correction diverges first. The isotropic static structure factor therefore remains finite, and the isotropic state never undergoes the continuous Gaussian instability predicted in part (a).
The modulated minimum from part (b), however, has negative free energy for sufficiently low and amplitude . For small positive , its free energy must cross that of the still locally stable isotropic variational state. At the crossing the isotropic inverse susceptibility is positive and the smectic amplitude is nonzero. The order parameter consequently jumps, which is the Brazovskii fluctuation-induced first-order transition.
Structure through pair correlations. For a homogeneous isotropic monatomic liquid of number density , the radial distribution function is defined by
It compares the conditional density around a tagged particle with the bulk density. A repulsive core makes close neighbours unlikely; a first peak identifies a preferred coordination shell, and damped peaks at larger radii describe short-range order. Far away, in the bulk limit. Unlike a crystal, an ordinary liquid has no indefinitely repeated positional order. An ideal uncorrelated gas has away from the tagged particle. The shell factor must not be confused with itself.
Figure 1.
Original schematic radial distribution function showing a core exclusion region and damped liquid-like coordination shells; the curve is illustrative rather than measured data
. Details.
The same pair structure enters the static structure factor measured through scattering. In the bulk isotropic convention,
Thus real-space coordination and reciprocal-space scattering peaks describe the same correlations.
Energy from the structure. If interactions are sums of a central pair potential , the equipartition theorem gives the classical kinetic energy . Count the interaction of a tagged particle with its neighbours and divide by two to avoid counting each pair twice. The pair-correlation expression for internal energy is
This makes structure thermodynamically useful: short-distance repulsion and the attractive region contribute with different weights. Additional internal molecular modes or many-body interactions require extra terms. The formula is a classical bulk pair-potential result, not a universal energy formula for every liquid.
Pressure and the dilute expansion. The mechanical virial theorem relates the pair forces to pressure. The virial pressure from pair correlations is
At low density, , giving the virial expansion
The second virial coefficient has units of volume per particle; higher coefficients encode additional cluster correlations. A hard-sphere exclusion diameter gives . Attractions contribute negative terms and can make negative. Although the pair-correlation formulas can describe a dense liquid when its actual is known, truncating the virial series after a few terms is normally a dilute-fluid approximation. It should not be silently extrapolated through condensation or into a dense liquid.
In a homogeneous isotropic one-component fluid, is the conditional number density at separation from a tagged particle divided by the bulk number density . Thus the displayed shell contains the mean number of neighbours. For an uncorrelated ideal gas away from the tagged particle; repulsive cores suppress small separations, while liquid coordination shells can produce damped oscillations approaching one at large distance. This is a pair correlation, not a normalized one-particle radial probability density. The static structure factor measures its Fourier-space counterpart.