More is the same; phase transitions and mean field theories

DOI10.1007/S10955-009-9814-1zbMATH Open1182.82005arXiv0906.0653OpenAlexW2045514650WikidataQ56337354 ScholiaQ56337354MaRDI QIDQ846906FDOQ846906

Leo P. Kadanoff

Publication date: 15 February 2010

Published in: Journal of Statistical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: This paper looks at the early theory of phase transitions. It considers a group of related concepts derived from condensed matter and statistical physics. The key technical ideas here go under the names of "singularity", "order parameter", "mean field theory", and "variational method". In a less technical vein, the question here is how can matter, ordinary matter, support a diversity of forms. We see this diversity each time we observe ice in contact with liquid water or see water vapor, "steam", come up from a pot of heated water. Different phases can be qualitatively different in that walking on ice is well within human capacity, but walking on liquid water is proverbially forbidden to ordinary humans. These differences have been apparent to humankind for millennia, but only brought within the domain of scientific understanding since the 1880s. A phase transition is a change from one behavior to another. A first order phase transition involves a discontinuous jump in a some statistical variable of the system. The discontinuous property is called the order parameter. Each phase transitions has its own order parameter that range over a tremendous variety of physical properties. These properties include the density of a liquid gas transition, the magnetization in a ferromagnet, the size of a connected cluster in a percolation transition, and a condensate wave function in a superfluid or superconductor. A continuous transition occurs when that jump approaches zero. This note is about statistical mechanics and the development of mean field theory as a basis for a partial understanding of this phenomenon.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0906.0653

zbMATH Keywords

singularityvariational methodorder parametermean field theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Phase transitions (general) in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B26) Critical phenomena in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B27)

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