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Landau Theory
Landau theory in physics is a theory that Lev Landau introduced in an attempt to formulate a general theory of continuous (i.e., second-order) phase transitions. It can also be adapted to systems under externally-applied fields, and used as a quantitative model for discontinuous (i.e., first-order) transitions. Although the theory has now been superseded by the renormalization group and scaling theory formulations, it remains an exceptionally broad and powerful framework for phase transitions, and the associated concept of the Phase transitions#Order parameters, order parameter as a descriptor of the essential character of the transition has proven transformative. Mean-field formulation (no long-range correlation) Landau was motivated to suggest that the free energy of any system should obey two conditions: *Be analytic in the order parameter and its gradients. *Obey the symmetry of the Hamiltonian mechanics, Hamiltonian. Given these two conditions, one can write down (in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events." Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the universe behaves. "Physics is one of the most fundamental of the sciences. Scientists of all disciplines use the ideas of physics, including chemists who study the structure of molecules, paleontologists who try to reconstruct how dinosaurs walked, and climatologists who study how human activities affect the atmosphere and oceans. Physics is also the foundation of all engineering and technology. No engineer could design a flat-screen TV, an interplanetary spacecraft, or even a better mousetrap without first understanding the basic laws of physic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phase Transition
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas, and in rare cases, plasma. A phase of a thermodynamic system and the states of matter have uniform physical properties. During a phase transition of a given medium, certain properties of the medium change as a result of the change of external conditions, such as temperature or pressure. This can be a discontinuous change; for example, a liquid may become gas upon heating to its boiling point, resulting in an abrupt change in volume. The identification of the external conditions at which a transformation occurs defines the phase transition point. Types of phase transition At the phase transition point for a substance, for instance the boiling point, the two phases involved - liquid and vapor, have identic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart–Landau Equation
The Stuart–Landau equation describes the behavior of a nonlinear oscillating system near the Hopf bifurcation, named after John Trevor Stuart and Lev Landau. In 1944, Landau proposed an equation for the evolution of the magnitude of the disturbance, which is now called as the Landau equation, to explain the transition to turbulence based on a phenomenological argument and an attempt to derive this equation from hydrodynamic equations was done by Stuart for Plane Poiseuille flow in 1958. The formal derivation to derive the ''Landau equation'' was given by Stuart, Watson and Palm in 1960. The perturbation in the vicinity of bifurcation is governed by the following equation :\frac = \sigma A - \frac A , A, ^2. where *A = , A, e^ is a complex quantity describing the disturbance, *\sigma = \sigma_r + i\sigma_i is the complex growth rate, *l = l_r + i l_i is a complex number and l_r is the ''Landau constant''. The evolution of the actual disturbance is given by the real part of A( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ginzburg Criterion
Mean field theory gives sensible results as long as one is able to neglect fluctuations in the system under consideration. The Ginzburg criterion tells quantitatively when mean field theory is valid. It also gives the idea of an upper critical dimension, a dimensionality of the system above which mean field theory gives proper results, and the critical exponents predicted by mean field theory match exactly with those obtained by numerical methods. Example: Ising model If \phi is the order parameter of the system, then mean field theory requires that the fluctuations in the order parameter are much smaller than the actual value of the order parameter near the critical point. Quantitatively, this means that : \displaystyle\mathcal \langle(\delta \phi)^2\rangle \quad\quad \langle\phi\rangle^2 Using this in the Landau theory, which is identical to the mean field theory for the Ising model, the value of the upper critical dimension comes out to be 4. If the dimension of the space is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases gradually as its temperature is lowered even down to near absolute zero, a superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature below which the resistance drops abruptly to zero. An electric current through a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source. The superconductivity phenomenon was discovered in 1911 by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a phenomenon which can only be explained by quantum mechanics. It is characterized by the Meissner effect, the complete ejection of magnetic field lines from the interior of the superconductor during its transitions into the sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ginzburg–Landau Theory
In physics, Ginzburg–Landau theory, often called Landau–Ginzburg theory, named after Vitaly Ginzburg and Lev Landau, is a mathematical physical theory used to describe superconductivity. In its initial form, it was postulated as a phenomenological model which could describe type-I superconductors without examining their microscopic properties. One GL-type superconductor is the famous YBCO, and generally all Cuprates. Later, a version of Ginzburg–Landau theory was derived from the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer microscopic theory by Lev Gor'kov, thus showing that it also appears in some limit of microscopic theory and giving microscopic interpretation of all its parameters. The theory can also be given a general geometric setting, placing it in the context of Riemannian geometry, where in many cases exact solutions can be given. This general setting then extends to quantum field theory and string theory, again owing to its solvability, and its close relation to other, simi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superfluidity
Superfluidity is the characteristic property of a fluid with zero viscosity which therefore flows without any loss of kinetic energy. When stirred, a superfluid forms vortices that continue to rotate indefinitely. Superfluidity occurs in two isotopes of helium (helium-3 and helium-4) when they are liquefied by cooling to cryogenic temperatures. It is also a property of various other exotic State of matter, states of matter theorized to exist in astrophysics, high-energy physics, and theories of quantum gravity. The theory of superfluidity was developed by Soviet theoretical physicists Lev Landau and Isaak Khalatnikov. Superfluidity is often coincidental with Bose–Einstein condensate, Bose–Einstein condensation, but neither phenomenon is directly related to the other; not all Bose–Einstein condensates can be regarded as superfluids, and not all superfluids are Bose–Einstein condensates. Superfluidity of liquid helium Superfluidity was discovered in helium-4 by Pyotr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mean Field Theory
In physics and probability theory, Mean-field theory (MFT) or Self-consistent field theory studies the behavior of high-dimensional random (stochastic) models by studying a simpler model that approximates the original by averaging over degrees of freedom (the number of values in the final calculation of a statistic that are free to vary). Such models consider many individual components that interact with each other. The main idea of MFT is to replace all interactions to any one body with an average or effective interaction, sometimes called a ''molecular field''. This reduces any many-body problem into an effective one-body problem. The ease of solving MFT problems means that some insight into the behavior of the system can be obtained at a lower computational cost. MFT has since been applied to a wide range of fields outside of physics, including statistical inference, graphical models, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, epidemic models, queueing theory, computer-network p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upper Critical Dimension
Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found footage film ''The Upper Footage ''The Upper Footage'' (also known as ''Upper'') is a 2013 found footage film written and directed by Justin Cole. First released on January 31, 2013 to a limited run of midnight theatrical screenings at Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema in New York Cit ...'' See also {{Disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renormalization Group
In theoretical physics, the term renormalization group (RG) refers to a formal apparatus that allows systematic investigation of the changes of a physical system as viewed at different scales. In particle physics, it reflects the changes in the underlying force laws (codified in a quantum field theory) as the energy scale at which physical processes occur varies, energy/momentum and resolution distance scales being effectively conjugate under the uncertainty principle. A change in scale is called a scale transformation. The renormalization group is intimately related to ''scale invariance'' and ''conformal invariance'', symmetries in which a system appears the same at all scales (so-called self-similarity). As the scale varies, it is as if one is changing the magnifying power of a notional microscope viewing the system. In so-called renormalizable theories, the system at one scale will generally be seen to consist of self-similar copies of itself when viewed at a smaller sca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
