Landau theory of second-order phase transitions
E66048
Landau theory of second-order phase transitions is a phenomenological framework that explains continuous phase transitions by expanding the free energy in terms of an order parameter and analyzing symmetry-breaking behavior near critical points.
Aliases (2)
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
phenomenological theory
→
physical theory → theory of phase transitions → |
| analyzes |
symmetry breaking
→
|
| appliesTo |
ferromagnetic phase transitions
→
structural phase transitions → superconducting transitions → superfluid transitions → |
| approximates |
microscopic interactions by effective parameters
→
|
| assumes |
analytic free energy near the critical point
→
equilibrium thermodynamics → homogeneous order parameter in simplest form → small order parameter near the critical point → |
| basedOn |
order parameter
→
|
| characterizes |
order parameter symmetry
→
universality classes at mean-field level → |
| classification |
phenomenological Landau theory
→
|
| describes |
continuous phase transitions
→
second-order phase transitions → |
| distinguishes |
symmetric phase
→
symmetry-broken phase → |
| doesNotDescribe |
first-order phase transitions in its basic form
→
|
| field |
condensed matter physics
→
statistical physics → |
| focusesOn |
behavior near critical points
→
|
| frameworkType |
mean-field theory
→
|
| generalizedTo |
Landau–Ginzburg theory
→
|
| influenced |
development of renormalization group theory
→
|
| introducedBy |
Lev Landau
→
|
| introduces |
Landau free energy functional
→
|
| involves |
critical point
→
critical temperature → symmetry group of the system → |
| namedAfter |
Lev Landau
→
|
| neglects |
critical fluctuations
→
|
| predicts |
continuous change of order parameter at the transition
→
disappearance of order parameter at critical temperature → mean-field critical exponents → spontaneous symmetry breaking below critical temperature → |
| relates |
Landau coefficients to thermodynamic quantities
→
|
| represents |
free energy as power series in order parameter
→
|
| timePeriod |
1930s
→
|
| uses |
Landau expansion coefficients
→
free energy expansion → minimization of free energy → symmetry considerations → |
| validWhen |
spatial dimension is above upper critical dimension
→
|
Referenced by (4)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity
→
|
basedOn |
|
Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity
("Landau mean-field theory")
→
|
inspiredBy |
|
Landau theory of second-order phase transitions
("Landau free energy functional")
→
|
introduces |
|
Lev Landau
→
|
knownFor |