Solution Let T = Tc (1 + ) where Tc is such that J/(2kB Tc ) = 1.

With these definitions, the Ising

model magnetization m = hi becomes


m
m = tanh
.
1+
Suppose now that m  1, and replace the hyperbolic tangent with its Taylor series, expanded to third
order, tanh x ' x 31 x3 :

3
1
1
1
m=
m3 .
m
1+
3 1+
Ignoring the m = 0 solution, we get the following:


h
i
1
3
2
3
2
m = 3 (1 + )
1 = 3 (1 + ) (1 + ) ' 3 [1 + 2 (1 + 3 )] = 3,
1+

m t1/2 .

3. Landau Theory Consider the Landaus theory of phase transition presented in the lectures.
(a) Calculate the low-field susceptibility:

0 (T ) =

m
h


.
T

(b) What are the critical exponents and ?

Solution
(a) Let (t, m) be the free energy, expanded in m and with coefficients from the Landau theory:
(t, m) = (t, 0) + r1 tm2 + s0 m4 .

(2)

Legendre transforming to a free energy parametrized by the field h one has

(t, h) = (t, m) hm = hm + (t, 0) + r1 tm2 + s0 m4 ,
which is now minimized by m with h held constant,



= 0.
m h
Straight-forward differentiation gives
h + 2r1 tm + 4s0 m3 = 0

h ' 2r1 tm

(3)

1
h.
m(h) =
2r1 t

And from that, one quite trivially gets the susceptibility



m
1
=
.
h t
2r1 t

(b) First, the exponent in m|t=0 h1/ . From Eq. (3) with t 0:

1/3
h
3

h = 4s0 m

m=
4s0

(4)

= 3.

Second, the exponent in (m/h) t . This follows trivially from Eq. (4):
= 1.