Volume 27A, number 8

PHYSICS

LETTERS

9 September1968

GENERALIZED

LANDAU

THEORY

FOR

CONTINUOUS

PHASE

TRANSITIONS

D. J. AMIT
Department of Theoretical Physics: The Hebrew University, Jerusalem,
Israel

and M. LUBAN
Department of Physics, Bar-Ran University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

Received 24 July 1968

It is shown that a generalized Landaufunctionalfor the thermodynamicpotentialnear a continuousphase transition can be constructed which reproduces all critical-exponent scaling relations. A consistency test of the theory is either satisfied throughoutthe critical region or nowhere.

The appearance, both theoretically [l] and experimentally [e.g. 21, of critical exponents which are not integral multiples of i and the growing confidence in the scaling-laws approach [e.g. 31 have cast doubt on the possibility of describing consistently the thermodynamics in the neighborhood of a continuous phase transition by a Landau theory [4]. However, a generalized Landau functional has recently been constructed [5] for superfluid helium which yields critical exponents in agreement with experiment and which are not integral multiples of $. The purpose of the present note is to show in a general way that a generalized Landau functional can be constructed which yields all known scaling relations [6]. The usefulness of the present approach is that the structure of the equilibrium thermodynamic potential is completely determined in terms of two indices, which may be known, say from experiment, thereby yielding new predictions [7]. We write the thermodynamic potential functional in terms of a space-dependent order parameter +(I) as +,(X,f,N =+,(X,t) + _b[AoK~)~V~~2 + Fl-7 4 I* I 2, - w*e + + w*,1 l1j ,

to describe the thermodynamic state $. The equation for (J/) the equilibrium value of +, found by minimizing * with respect to variations of +* for fixed t, X and U, is 6+/a+* = - Aov2(+)
+ (aF/a+*> - &Y(r) = 0 . (2)

Following the Landau approach [4], we suppose that for t < 0 (T< T,) we can expand F as F =
= c;=l AJX,

t) IJ/ / 2n with A, = a#)(-

t)p-2@

and (Y1 < 0. If further U = 0, the solutions of eq. (2) minimizing can be chosen real and are of the form 9 = J/, X (- t)fi. When U f 0, there is no phase transition when t + 0, and thus @ must be an analytic function of tat t = 0. We suppose Uis re;loand spatially homol$neous so that @ = al tl - + + (-t) G[Q2/(-t)2P],where the term alt12* contributes to a0 and gives rise to a specific heat ;fe; ;T(fo,fi$ > 0. For. + to be analytic in t - m, it is necessary that P = 2 -ff
P = 2 -CYalso implies that the specific heat index

(Y for t < 0 equals Q! . The resulting expression @ - ep/fl, together with eq. (2), leads to fl(6 + 1) = P, where the index 6 is defined by 11/a lN6 at t = 0. In the special case P = 2, @o possibly has a $ The last term in eq. (1) appears due to a weak symmetry breaking term in the Hamiltonian which is linear in U(*) and the operators @T) which give rise to the order parameter.

where a0 is the thermodynamic potential of the symmetric phase in the absence of an external field U(r) and it is a symmetric function of t = = (2 - T,)/T,; A, is a positive coefficient; the transition temperature is T,(X); and X denotes the additional variables, such as pressure, used

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Volume 27A, number 8

PHYSICS

LETTERS

9 September 1968

term at2 log 1tl contributing the symmetric log 1 1 to CX whereas F contributes the finite t amount AC* The quantity ACx may be zero, because of an underlying symmetry, so that CX = = D.log 1t I, as is the case for the 2-dimensional Ising model [3]. For U f 0 one expects a logarithmic behavior of F or lar e argument to cancel the non-analytic at a log It 7 contribution from *o. The form of @ for t > 0 can be obtained by maintaining U + 0 and continuing the analytic function Cp, + J dr F from negative to positive values of t. The external field and thus e2tm2P are then decreased to zero maintaining a fixed phase of the latter. In the resulting expansion of @ in integral powers of +tm2p the coefficients will all be positive therby minimizing @ for * = 0 only. The equation for the order parameter correlation function g(r - r) = ((J/(r) - (G(r)>)(J/( r) - (Nr)))) ,

This ratio equals b It) vd-P. The thermo-dynamic result [8] vd 3 P implies that the criterion is satisfied throughout the critical region when vd > P. If vd = P the theory is consistent through. out the critical region or nowhere de ending whether b < 1 or b > 1, respectively P. Finally, it is interesting to see how Josephsons relation [9] for superfluid helium enters. In this case, (*)2 - $$ X (- t)2P is the density of particles in the Bose-Einstein condensate. Choosing e(r) = q. exp[i$( r)], #J*= 4, we find in eq. (1) a term of the form ]+,,I 2Ao Jdr The superfluid mass density is p, = = 2 Itic/, 12Aom2/ti2, where m is the mass of a helium atom. Writing p, - p, X (- t)c, we find [ = 2p - VT).
The usual version of the Landau theory, or equivalently the Ornstein-Zernike theory, yields v = 4, CY= 0 [6, Sec. F, 81, contradicting the thermodynamics.I relation vd 3 2 - Q1. This is not surprising since in this case the validity criterion g([)&)2 << 1 is not satisfied for smallest vabtes of I tl

(~4)~.

obtained in the standard way [6] from eq. (2) with + real, is [- 2AoV2 + (i32F/i31C/2>]g = kgT6( r- r). We suppose that u is so small compared to (t 1 that we can employ our expansion for F in powers of e2(* t)-2fl. Hence (a2F/i3q2) is proportional to It(P-2fi both above and below Tc. For a d = 3dimensional system, one has the solution for r a 5, g(r) = kgT(8nAo~)-1 exp(-r/5), where the coherence length 5 is proportional to AkIt/p-P. IfA, ltland 5 - t-*,

(-t)-then

References
1. L.Onsamr. Phvs. Rev. 65 (1944) 117. 2. P. Heller and G: B. Benedek; Phys. Rev. Letters 14 (1965) 79; A.Arrott and J.E.Noakes, Phys. Rev. Letters 19 (1967) 786. 3. L. P. Kadanoff, Physics 2 (1966) 263 and references therein. 4. L.D.Landau, Fiz. J. Sovjet 11 (1937) 545; English translation in Collected Papers of L. D. Landau, ed. D. Ter Haar (Peraamon Press. London. 1965). 5. Yu.G.MamaIadse~ Zh. Eksperim. i Tedr.. Fii. 52 (1966) 739; Soviet Phys. -JETP 25 0967) 479; D. J.Amit, Phys. Letters 26A (1968) 466. 6. L. P.Kadanoff et al., Rev. Mod. Phvs. 39 (1967) 7. D. J.Amit, Phys. Letters 26A (1968) 448. 8. J.D.Gunton and M.J.Buckingham, Phys. Rev. Letters 20 (1968) 143, eq. (10). 9. B. D. Josephson, Phys. Letters 21 (1966) 608.
395.

wehavev=v=Q(P-2P-o). As ItI -Oonesupposes that g(r), for r d 5(-m), tends to the temperature independent function of the form g(r) - &d-2+77) for d-dimensional system. Matching these two forms at r = 5 yields u = - nv. Finally, using the relation for the longitudinal isothermal susceptibility XT = idr g - tmY, (- t)+
one ob-

tains y = y = (2 - n)v. Summarizing, the relations obtainedaboveareP=2-a,=p(6+1)=(2-n)v+ +2p= y+zp. A consistency test of the local character of the generalized Landau functional is that the spatial correlation of fluctuations of J/ at a distance .$ are small relative to (J/), that is, g(S)/(+)2 << 1.

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