Rushbrooke inequality
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In statistical mechanics, the Rushbrooke inequality relates the critical exponents of a magnetic system which exhibits a first-order phase transition in the thermodynamic limit for non-zero temperature T.
Since the Helmholtz free energy is extensive, the normalization to free energy per site is given as
The magnetization M per site in the thermodynamic limit, depending on the external magnetic field H and temperature T is given by
where σi is the spin at the i-th site, and the magnetic susceptibility and specific heat at constant temperature and field are given by, respectively
and
[edit] Definitions
The critical exponents α,α',β,γ,γ' and δ are defined in terms of the behaviour of the order parameters and response functions near the critical point as follows
where
measures the temperature relative to the critical point.
[edit] Derivation
For the magnetic analogue of the Maxwell relations for the response functions, the relation
follows, and with thermodynamic stability requiring that , one has
which, under the conditions H = 0,t < 0 and the definition of the critical exponents gives
which gives the Rushbrooke inequality
Remarkably, in experiment and in exactly solved models, the inequality actually holds as an equality.