Mean-field tricritical exponent calculation 2026-10-07
For the sextic Landau free energy , , with linear in reduced temperature, the equation of state is . Its ordered zero-field minimum satisfies , the inverse magnetic susceptibility is below the transition and above, and the critical isotherm satisfies . The minimized singular free-energy density is below and zero above. These facts give the displayed mean-field critical exponents, obeying both the Rushbrooke scaling relation and Widom scaling relation. Both the quadratic and quartic coefficients must be tuned; a generic path with a positive quartic coefficient instead has ordinary critical behavior. Fluctuations change the result below the tricritical upper critical dimension three, and marginal corrections can add logarithms at three.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 72 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A further derivative gives the magnetic susceptibility within a selected pure thermodynamic phase:Assuming a finite nonzero zero-field amplitude on the branch considered, comparison with givesTogether with part (a), this proves the Rushbrooke scaling relation and the Widom scaling relation . Below the transition, use the one-sided response of an ordered phase; differentiating through the cusp of the equilibrium free energy at would include phase switching rather than this critical response.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 69 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena describes the singular part of the equilibrium free-energy density, rather than its analytic background. For an isotropic system in spatial dimension , with thermal scaling field and conjugate field , writeThis follows from coarse graining near a renormalization-group fixed point: a correlation volume is enlarged by , while the relevant thermal and field perturbations grow with their eigenvalues. Choosing givesThe two functions describe the two sides of the transition. Nonuniversal metric factors multiplying must be allowed when comparing microscopic models. Exponents and suitably normalized scaling functions or amplitude ratios characterize a universality class.
Differentiating the free-energy density gives the order parameter , magnetic susceptibility and singular heat capacity proportional to . ThusThe subscript distinguishes the order-parameter exponent from inverse temperature. At , choose to obtain , with . These derivatives imply the Rushbrooke scaling relation and the Widom scaling relation . Equivalently, the equation of state has , with .
The correlation length scales as , . At criticality the connected correlation function behaves as , giving . Integrating over a correlation volume gives and hence the Fisher scaling relation . The hyperscaling relation expresses one singular free-energy contribution per correlation volume.
These laws organize measurements: plotting against collapses near-critical curves onto the appropriate scaling function. A finite system replaces the divergent length by its size ; the corresponding prediction is under the same scaling assumptions. Finite size rounds a sharp thermodynamic singularity.
The hypothesis has a domain of validity. At a renormalization-group fixed point one generally needs , including other scaling fields. Ordinary irrelevant couplings can be set to zero in a nonsingular limiting scaling function. A dangerously irrelevant coupling cannot: above the upper critical dimension of scalar quartic theory, the quartic term is irrelevant at the Gaussian point but still stabilizes the ordered phase. Consequently naive hyperscaling fails there even though other exponent relations can remain valid. Marginal variables can produce logarithms, anisotropic systems require the appropriate volume exponent, and the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition has an essential correlation-length singularity instead of a finite power-law . Scaling theory relates observables through a small number of fixed-point dimensions; it does not make analytic backgrounds, marginal logarithms or dangerously irrelevant variables disappear.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 46 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write to distinguish inverse temperature from an order-parameter critical exponent. For the Ising model, define the full two-point correlation function and its connected correlation function in a translation-invariant phase. Away from a thermodynamic critical point, the large-distance envelope decays exponentially, possibly multiplied by a power of distance:This defines the correlation length in physical distance units when the limit exists. At a continuous phase transition, and the critical connected correlation function typically has algebraic decay , where is the anomalous dimension. Below the transition the full tends to , so the decay definition must use .
Let and be the extensive Helmholtz free energy. Holding the field-independent constant and other physical couplings fixed,Because the Hamiltonian contains , and . Translation invariance then proves the correlation-function susceptibility sum rule:In the ordered zero-field phase these statements refer to a selected pure thermodynamic phase; averaging equally over opposite magnetizations introduces the separate spin-mixture contribution to zero-field susceptibility.
A normalized blocking kernel satisfies . For example, assign one block spin to each block of microscopic spins using majority sign, with equal probabilities for a tie. Define the blocked Hamiltonian, retaining the entire generated operator space, byThe field-independent contribution belongs to the identity operator. With andsumming over proves exactly. Iterating gives and the same partition function with . Observables at large scales are reproduced by appropriately blocked observables and sources. Truncating the generated interactions makes this an approximation; dropping the additive constant already destroys the equality of free energies even when normalized spin expectations remain correct.
The extensive Helmholtz free energy is unchanged: . In contrast, its value per site changes because the number of sites changes. Define the reduced zero-constant free-energy density in the thermodynamic limit. The preceding equality yieldsand iteration proves the additive free-energy recursion under blocking:Equivalently . Thus the inhomogeneous source records the identity-operator contribution to renormalization-group free energy from eliminated short-distance degrees of freedom.
To express this recursion for the singular part, write , where is the regular analytic background. Then the same displayed recursion holds with andThis is the analytic subtraction of an inhomogeneous renormalization recursion. A purely analytic source can often be absorbed into , after which it does not control the leading singular powers. It is not legitimate simply to discard an analytic source in the full free energy, where it can dominate the regular background. Moreover an analytic monomial contributesIf , the sum is and hence generates a logarithm when : a renormalization-group free-energy resonance. Such a term cannot be discarded when describing that logarithmic singularity. Neglect of the inhomogeneous term in the leading power-law scaling therefore assumes that its regular part has been subtracted, that any remaining source only changes finite scaling amplitudes, and that there are no relevant resonances or marginal logarithms. Omitting an irrelevant operator further requires absence of a dangerously irrelevant coupling, whose vanishing limit can make a scaling function singular.
A renormalization-group fixed point obeys . Linearization gives ; in eigenvector coordinates . Positive label relevant operators, negative label irrelevant operators, and zero labels a marginal operator requiring nonlinear analysis. The critical surface is the stable manifold obtained by tuning all relevant scaling fields to zero. A repulsive renormalization-group trajectory leaves the fixed point along a relevant direction as the observation length increases. Locally a typical zero-field section has , , , so the critical surface attracts along , while trajectories with either sign of depart from it. A magnetic scaling field adds another relevant direction.
Renormalization-group saddle flow in a zero-field section and two relevant directions transverse to the critical surface
. Details. Under the stated homogeneous-scaling assumptions and after fixing irrelevant fields at their limiting values, two relevant scaling fields obey , . These fields are analytic coordinates near the renormalization-group fixed point, proportional to the physical reduced temperature and conjugate field to leading order. The singular free-energy density consequently obeysHere denotes the singular free energy per original site or unit volume, with regular dimensional factors absorbed; the extensive singular part is . Iterate and choose to obtain the scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena:The sign labels the two sides of the transition: describes , the disordered side, while describes , the ordered side. The two functions need not coincide; has the zero-field one-sided derivative appropriate to spontaneous magnetization. The numbers are scaling eigenvalues in logarithmic form: the corresponding discrete RG multipliers are .
The correlation length obeys . The same scale choice gives . Differentiating once and twice with respect to the conjugate field, and twice with respect to temperature, givesAt , instead choose the scale . Then and , so . Thus differentiation and scale matching establishThe first is the Widom scaling relation and the second the hyperscaling relation. The hyperscaling relation requires precisely the regular homogeneous scaling used here. Above the ordinary upper critical dimension, the quartic coupling is dangerously irrelevant in the ordered phase and this derivation cannot discard it: the mean-field critical exponents , do not obey for . At marginal dimensions logarithmic factors likewise require care beyond the displayed pure powers.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 46 2 Solution 2026-10-14
Use for inverse temperature to distinguish it from the order-parameter exponent. The decaying two-point correlation function needed for the response identity is connected:Away from the critical point in a short-range Ising model pure phase, the correlation length controls the exponential long-distance falloff, with a possible algebraic prefactor. The full two-spin expectation below the transition instead tends to . The spin-mixture contribution to zero-field susceptibility explains why a symmetric mixture is unsuitable for defining a finite connected correlation length in the ordered phase.
Let be the total Helmholtz free energy. Take magnetization and susceptibility per site, soDifferentiating the Boltzmann weights at fixed temperature givesTranslation invariance then yields the correlation-function susceptibility sum ruleTotal magnetization and total susceptibility multiply these expressions by ; per physical volume they have an additional factor relative to the per-site convention. These normalizations do not change the critical powers.
For the subsequent scaling requests, let denote singular free energy per site; the fixed extensive normalization is suppressed. The labels and denote and , with distinct scaling functions and amplitudes on the two sides. Below the transition a one-sided derivative at selects a spontaneous-magnetization branch. Writing , differentiation of the scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena givesThe field-independent makes no contribution to these field derivatives, although it can change heat-capacity amplitudes. Assuming nonzero leading amplitudes and the indicated pure-phase limits, comparison with the exponent definitions givesThis is the Rushbrooke scaling relation. A temperature-independent critical isotherm requires the large- magnetization scaling function to grow as : otherwise would retain a temperature power as at fixed small . Therefore . Since the preceding two equalities also give , the Widom scaling relation follows:For the hyperscaling relation, additionally assume that one correlation volume supplies an order-one singular free-energy contribution and that there is a single isotropic correlation length, with no dangerously irrelevant coupling spoiling this argument. Then . Two temperature derivatives give the singular heat capacity, soHyperscaling is an additional physical assumption, not a consequence of the two-variable equation alone, and generally fails above the upper critical dimension.
Finally the correlation scaling function falls exponentially, up to algebraic factors, for in a massive short-range pure phase. At it approaches a finite nonzero value in the scaling regime. Approximating the lattice sum at distances much larger than , and denoting the area of the unit sphere by , givesIf and the integral has a finite nonzero limiting value, microscopic distances contribute only a regular background and the leading divergence is . Thus the Fisher scaling relation isThese statements concern leading singular powers; logarithmic corrections and cancellations of amplitudes require separate treatment.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 51 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use for inverse temperature, to distinguish it from the order-parameter critical exponent . In a translation-invariant pure thermodynamic phase, the connected two-point correlation function isFor finite correlation length, at it decays exponentially, possibly with an algebraic prefactor; is the asymptotic exponential decay rate. Below an ordered transition the pure phase is selected by taking the thermodynamic limit before or . A zero-field symmetric mixture of the two ordered phases has a nondecaying connected term and does not describe the usual pure-phase magnetic susceptibility.
Let denote extensive physical free energy and . Since the field contributes to the statistical Hamiltonian, differentiation givesExpanding the variance and using translation invariance proves the correlation-function susceptibility sum rule:The sum includes . If the source is instead defined as the dimensionless quantity , the corresponding derivative omits the displayed inverse-temperature factor.
A real-space renormalization group step of length factor uses a local blocking kernel satisfying . For example, a deterministic majority-spin rule assigns one coarse Ising spin to each block; tied blocks can be resolved with equal probabilities. Define the blocked statistical Hamiltonian byThe spacing becomes . All generated interactions, including multispin terms and the field-independent constant, must be retained for an exact transformation. Summing over uses normalization to prove . Iteration gives and .
The coarse probability law is the exact marginal law of these block variables. Indeed, for any coarse observable , its expected value is the microscopic expected value of . A blocking rule that retains the long-wavelength order-parameter mode, with source and observable transformations tracked, therefore retains long-distance response and correlation functions. Their field normalization may change, while their physical length scales and critical singularities do not. Partition-function equality alone would not justify this assertion for an arbitrary kernel that discards all slow variables. Truncating the generated operator family is likewise an approximation.
For the free-energy recursion use dimensionless free energy per site,in the thermodynamic limit. Exact partition-function invariance gives . If one step sends to , the coefficient records the identity-operator contribution from eliminated fluctuations and normalization. ConsequentlyRepeated substitution derives the additive free-energy recursion under blocking:In physical energy units, divide this convention by . The additive term is essential for absolute free energies even when it does not affect the leading critical powers.
A renormalization-group fixed point satisfies . Linearize in scaling coordinates so that . A relevant operator has , an irrelevant operator has , and a marginal operator has with behaviour decided by nonlinear terms. Thus the eigenvalues of the discrete linear map are ; the sign criterion applies to the generator exponents , not to the discrete multipliers. The critical surface is the stable manifold on which every relevant scaling field has been tuned away. Irrelevant coordinates flow to the renormalization-group fixed point along it. A repulsive renormalization-group trajectory leaves the renormalization-group fixed point along an unstable relevant direction, ultimately entering a noncritical phase or another scaling regime.
Local renormalization-group flow in the zero-field slice: attraction along the critical surface and repulsion in the thermal direction
. Details. To separate the singular free-energy density from its regular background, suppose the eliminated-mode contribution is analytic near the renormalization-group fixed point. Look for an analytic background satisfying . Then satisfies . In linear thermal and field coordinates, an analytic monomial has background coefficientprovided the denominator is nonzero. This explicitly explains when analytic subtraction of an inhomogeneous renormalization recursion works. The printed inhomogeneous equation may describe the free-energy function before this subtraction, or a singular part defined only up to analytic terms. The inhomogeneous sum need not be small compared with the full free energy: an analytic constant can dominate a vanishing singular contribution. It can be omitted in deriving leading singular powers after regular subtraction, provided no renormalization-group free-energy resonance, marginal logarithm or dangerously irrelevant coupling obstructs the homogeneous critical asymptotics. At a renormalization-group free-energy resonance , additive logarithms can remain, so simply dropping the term would miss them.
Suppose there are exactly two relevant scaling fields, thermal and magnetic , with positive exponents , and the remaining fields approach a regular limit. Physical reduced temperature and magnetic field agree with these coordinates to leading order, up to nonuniversal metric factors. The homogeneous scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena isas an asymptotic scaling equation. Choose to make the thermal argument or . Defining givesThe two functions describe respectively and : approaching the transition from disordered and ordered sides need not give the same function. In particular the ordered zero-field function has one-sided derivatives associated with spontaneous magnetization. Metric factors multiply this formula in different microscopic normalizations.
The correlation length in Bravais lattice units obeys . At , the same choice of gives . Two thermal derivatives of give . One and two field derivatives give, respectively, and , assuming the relevant branch amplitudes are nonzero. At , choose ; then , so . HenceSimple algebra now gives the Rushbrooke scaling relation and the hyperscaling relation . Also , giving the Widom scaling relation. These statements refer to leading singular contributions with the homogeneous two-field scaling assumptions. Above the upper critical dimension, the quartic coupling is dangerously irrelevant because it is still needed to stabilize the ordered phase; ordinary mean-field critical exponents then satisfy Rushbrooke and Widom but generally not hyperscaling. Marginal logarithms also require qualifications at the upper critical dimension.
For the connected-correlation scaling form , the function tends to a finite nonzero value as and decays exponentially at large , up to powers of , in a massive short-range phase. The scaling ansatz alone does not fix that prefactor. If the usual massive Gaussian field correlation tail applies, matching the powers gives , with a correlation-length-dependent amplitude in fixed by matching the critical scaling form.
In physical coordinates the lattice sum has site-density factor . Its long-distance singular part therefore giveswhere is the area of the unit sphere in dimensions. For , finite , an integrable exponential tail and a nonzero integral, the last factor tends to a finite nonzero constant as . Microscopic distances contribute a regular background. Thus , proving the Fisher scaling relationEquivalently the field has scaling dimension , so its conjugate field has , which gives the same identity from the exponent formulas above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 41 1 Solution 2026-10-14
The scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena says that the singular equilibrium free-energy density is a generalized homogeneous function of the thermal and field variables, after analytic backgrounds are removed. To derive the ordinary mean-field form, put , and neglect the higher powers near the transition. Rescale . Minimizing the quartic potential becomesThis is the mean-field scalar free-energy scaling form with , . The two functions correspond to and ; the latter has two pure-phase branches and a cusp at zero field. The question's and subscripts distinguish these temperatures above and below .
Differentiating with respect to gives on an ordered pure branch, and differentiating again gives . Thus the displayed scaling form independently yields and .
To allow anomalous powers, replace it byThen and . Taking at fixed small gives , so . Eliminating proves the Rushbrooke scaling relation and Widom scaling relation:These power-law relations assume the simple scaling form; marginal corrections or dangerously irrelevant couplings can require additional scaling variables.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 42 1 Solution 2026-10-06
The scaling hypothesis for critical phenomena says that the singular part of the equilibrium free energy is a generalized homogeneous function of its thermal and field-like controls. Smooth backgrounds must first be removed; the hypothesis does not claim that the entire free energy, including arbitrary regular terms, has a pure scaling form.
For the ordinary scalar quartic LG theory, set with and , and rescale the uniform order parameter asThe order-parameter-dependent free-energy density becomesDefine as the minimum of the braces, with the sign of the quadratic term respectively positive or negative. ConsequentlyFor an extensive , additionally contains the system volume. The printed double-inequality subscript labels the two temperature branches: the upper-temperature function is and the lower-temperature function is . It does not classify positive and negative magnetic fields. In particular and ; below the transition the field dependence has a cusp at zero, so derivatives are taken on a selected branch.
For the following derivatives, take to be a density, so is the magnetization density; for total free energy the derivative gives total magnetization instead. Differentiate this mean-field scalar free-energy scaling form. The magnetization is , giving and . The magnetic susceptibility is , giving . At zero field the nonzero curvature amplitudes are and .
To allow nonclassical critical exponents, replace the fixed powers byThe heat-capacity critical exponent is defined by ; temperature differentiation gives the thermal exponent in . The order-parameter critical exponent has , and the magnetic-susceptibility critical exponent has . Differentiating the scaling form givesEliminating proves the Rushbrooke scaling relationThe critical-isotherm exponent is defined by . At fixed small , the limit requires , so that the temperature factors cancel. Therefore , yielding . But the two differentiated identities also give , and hence the Widom scaling relationThese are relations among the leading power indices. At marginal dimensions, multiplicative logarithms can accompany them, and an additive analytic background must not be mistaken for the singular scaling contribution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 303 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
These are mean-field critical exponents at a tricritical point. Hold the other control at its tricritical value and take the coefficients to be real analytic functions of temperature along a thermal approach with , , , and or . At fixed tricritical , a generic real analytic temperature path with nonzero thermal slope has and meets the last condition. Paths tangent to a scaling direction can have different apparent temperature powers.
At zero field on the ordered side with , stationarity gives ; under the more general approach , this relation holds to leading order. Thus the order-parameter critical exponent isFor the zero-quartic representative, putting this minimum into the Landau free energy gives the singular order-parameter contribution (and the leading asymptotic contribution under the stated negligible-quartic approach)Using at fixed other control yields , specifically to leading order. HenceThis heat-capacity critical exponent refers to the nonzero ordered-side singular amplitude; in this mean-field approximation to Landau theory, the disordered global minimum contributes zero singular free energy, while any regular background remains. Fluctuation corrections lie outside the present approximation.
In the disordered phase, differentiating the equation of state at gives the magnetic susceptibility . On the ordered branch its curvature is , so . Both give the magnetic-susceptibility critical exponentAt the tricritical temperature with both lower coefficients zero, , so and the critical-isotherm exponent isThe Widom scaling relation and Rushbrooke scaling relation both check these powers. Their validity here is a mean-field conclusion, not a claim that fluctuations in every spatial dimension preserve them.
The ordered solution givesso the order-parameter critical exponent isAt , adding a magnetic term gives , henceAbove , the zero-field susceptibility is . Below , the curvature at a minimum is , so both sides giveAt the ordered minimum, andSince , the heat-capacity critical exponent isThese values obey the Widom scaling relation and Rushbrooke scaling relation at mean-field level.

