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Lecture 5 - Landau theory of phase transitions I

I. MEAN FIELD FREE ENERGY FUNCTION

Recall:

F (m, T ) = F(h, T ) + mh (1)

Alternatively, to obtain the magnetic free energy we write:

F(h, T ; m) = F (m, T ) − mh (2)

and then minimze the RHS with respect to m.

1 (Jzm)3
m(T − Jz) + −h=0 (3)
3 T2
Which resembles:
∂F (m, T ) − hm
=0 (4)
∂m
with:
µ ¶2
1 1 Tc Tc
F = (T − Tc )m2 + m4 (5)
2 4 3 T
If we minimize this we get the self consistent equation.

A. Free energy in the mean field approximation

Let’s look at the free energy - the one that depends on the magnetization - of a single spin in teh mean field
approximation. The Hamiltonian is:

Ĥ = −JzmSi (6)

This implies that:

Z1 = 2 cosh Jzm/T (7)

The free energy per particle then seems to be:

F/N (m, T ) = −T ln 2 cosh Jzm/T (8)

this free energy, though, counts the energy that comes from the interaction terms. take the interaction between S 1 and
S2 - we’re counting the full extent of this interaction once for S1 and once for S2 . To correct this, recall: F = U − T S.
Since we are double-counting the U, let’s just remove the excess energy. Per particle, the energy is:
1
− Jzm2 (9)
2
If we take it off, we get:
1
F/N (m, T ) = −T ln 2 cosh Jzm/T + Jzm2 (10)
2
The magnetic free energy, F, is obtained by taking off the magnetization times the field, and minimizing with respect
to m:
1
F = minm − T ln 2 cosh Jzm/T + Jzm2 − hm (11)
2
 2

This function is the Landay free energy of the Ising model. We expand (and forget about a T shift of the free
energy):
" µ ¶2 µ ¶4 #
1 (Jz)4 4
¶µ µ ¶
1 Jzm 1 1 Jzm 1 2 1 JZ
FL = −T + − 2
+ Jzm − hm = (Jz) 1 − m2 + m − hm (12)
2 T 4! 2 · 2 T 2 2 T 12 T 3

Note that the coefficient of h is not the same in the two treatments. At this level this doesn’t matter - near the
transition, which is where this theory anyway holds (m ¿ 1), we have:

T ∼ Jz. (13)

B. Landau Free energy

To construct a mean-field theory for a phase transition, you don’t really need to go through the hamiltonian.
identify:
• The order parameter (using knowledge of the problem - or, if abscent skip this stage)
• The sysmmetries of the problem
• Make sure that the order parameter is indeed a faithhful representation of the symmetry group (or find one that
is).
• Construct the most general Landau-functional which obeys the symmetries of the problem.
For the Ising model. The symetry group is the time-reversal, T. The order parameter is the magnetization - because
it is a representation of the time-reversal symmetry:

Tm = −m (14)

Now, we need to construct the free energy functional as for the system described by m:
X
FL = αn (T )mn − m · h (15)
n

(recall that Th = −h). The α’s depend on temperatrue explicitly. m will be determined as the location where the
landau free energy is minimized. By symmetry, since:

FL (Tm) = FL (m) (16)

we know that the odd alpha must vanish. this leaves us a function very much like the one above:

FL = α2 (T )m2 + α4 m4 . . . − m · h (17)

Now we make an assumption which is consistent with the Ising model -

α4 > 0.

This means that there are two cases:

α2 = α(T − Tc ) (18)

and we have the generic free energy:

FL = α(T − Tc )m2 + α4 m4 . . . − m · h (19)

C. Universality

Let’s look back into what went into our consideration of the Landau free energy - symmetry of the problem. Thus,
all the transitions with the same symmetry - a discrete parity-like symmetry, would have the same type of a phase
transition according to the Landau theory.
The critical exponents are: Magnetization:
α
m2 = (Tc − T ) (20)
2α4
so β = 1/2. Susceptibility:

h
m= |T >TC (21)
α(T − Tc )

So γ = 1. When T = Tc we have:

4α4 m3 = h (22)

so δ = 3.

heat capacity

Let’s find the heat capacity in zero field.

∂F
S=− (23)
∂T
but for T > Tc we have F = 0 and hence S = 0, and C = 0. On the other hand, below TC we have:
µ ¶2 2
α α 1 (α(T − TC ))
F = α(T − TC ) (Tc − T ) + α4 (Tc − T ) =− (24)
2α4 2α4 2 2α4

The second derivative with respect to temperature, neglecting changes in α 4 and α, which will be suppressed with
factors of (T − Tc )2 , we have:

∂S α2
C=T = (25)
∂T 2α4
So that the heat capacity jumps across the transition, but does not diverge:

αc = 0.