Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 303 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write and assume , as required for quartic stability. In the mean-field approximation, the two-component radial quartic Landau potential isSet , . At fixed , the quartic term is fixed and the quadratic term is minimized by assigning all of to the component with smaller . Minimizing over then givesThe resulting phase diagram has these regions:
- If and , : the disordered phase preserves both Z2 symmetries.
- If , and : the first Z2 symmetry undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking.
- If , and : the second Z2 symmetry undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking.
On , the symmetry is enhanced to the orthogonal group , and the minima form the circleMixed-component minima occur on this line, rather than in an open coexistence region. Crossing the negative diagonal swaps the selected component discontinuously: this is a first-order phase transition, also called a spin-flop transition. For example, holding fixed and moving across , the derivative jumps from to zero. The angular degeneracy exactly on the line does not remove this discontinuity.
The positive half-axis , is a continuous phase transition, as is , . Their endpoint at is a bicritical point, where the two continuous boundaries meet the first-order negative diagonal. Approaching the origin radially makes the ordered amplitude vanish continuously. The negative half-axes lie inside ordered phases and are not additional transition lines. There are two continuous half-axis boundaries and one first-order negative diagonal, meeting at the origin.
