Critical Phenomena

Abstract

As was already seen in Chap. 9, there may exist particular thermodynamical states where a discontinuous (first order) phase transition becomes continuous (second order) or where the order parameter of a continuous phase transition vanishes (Fig. 10.1). Such a thermodynamical state is called a critical state, or a critical point (CP), and its variables will be distinguished here by a subscript c. In the immediate vicinity of a CP, there occur a number of peculiar (static and dynamic) phenomena which are designed collectively as “critical phenomena.” During the last four decades considerable progress has been made in the understanding of these phenomena. In this chapter some of the new ideas which emerged from these studies are summarized and explained in the simpler context of the present textbook. More complete studies can be found in the Further Reading.