NL2674

Order Parameters

NL2674

Order Parameters

The concept of an order parameter was introduced by Landau in the 1930s and until now it does not have a precise definition. It is a thermodynamic quantity that is invariant with respect to the symmetry group of the lowtemperature phase and is zero above the transition temperature while nonzero below. It is a measure of the amount of order that is built up in the system in the neighborhood of the critical point. In general, it has both an amplitude and a phase. To find the equation of state, a minimization procedure has to be followed for an appropriate thermodynamic potential. From its original application to second order phase transitions where it changes continuously from Tc to lower temperatures, the idea of an order parameter has been extended to first order transitions where it undergoes a sudden change at Tc (Fig. 1). It has been generalized from a scalar to a time- and space-dependent function. Note that first order phase transitions are associated with discontinuities of the order parameter and thermal hysteresis effects. Second order phase transitions have a continuous order parameter and show field-induced hysteresis. Figure 1 A typical plot of the scalar order parameter as a function of temperature.

Diverse applications of the order parameter concept to both equilibrium and nonequilibrium critical phenomena are listed in Table 1. Table 1 Examples of Order Parameters DISORDERED PHASE ORDERED PHASE ORDER PARAMETER

PHENOMENON

EQUILIBRIUM Condensation Spontaneous Magnetization Antiferromagnetism Gas Paramagnet Paramagnet Liquid Ferromagnet Antiferromagnet Density difference L - G Net magnetization r M Staggered Magnetization r r M1 M 2 Cooper pair Wavefunction Sublattice Concentration Polarization Condensate Wavefunction

Superconductivity

Conductor

Superconductor

Alloy Ordering Ferroelectricity Superfluidity

Disordered Mixture Paraelectric Fluid

Sublattice Ordered Alloy Ferroelectric Superfluid

NONEQUILIBRIUM Tunnel Diode Laser Action Super-radiant Source Fluid Convection Insulator Lamp (Incoherent) Noncoherent Polarisation Turbulent Flow Conductor Laser (Coherent) Coherent Polarisation Bnard Cells Capacitance Charge Electric Field Intensity Atomic Polarization Amplitude of Mode

NL2674

Order Parameters

Crystal formation is demonstrated by the existence of a regular diffraction pattern associated with the Fourier r components of the mass density distribution (r ) r r r r (r ) = G e iG r , (1)

r r where G are vectors in the reciprocal space. The set of numbers G can be used as order parameters characterizing
r the low-temperature (crystal) phase. The nonzero coefficients G in (1) define a multi-component order parameter. r The order parameter field for a magnet is defined at each position x by a direction of the local r r magnetization M (x ) whose length is fixed. By becoming a magnet, this material has broken the rotational r symmetry and its order parameter field M defines the broken symmetry directions chosen in the material. A number of metals, alloys and ceramics below their critical temperature Tc exhibit an ordered state in the conduction electron degrees of freedom manifested by zero resistance. The order parameter for superconductors is r the wavefunction of the Cooper pair condensate (r ) and it exhibits a Hopf bifurcation at T = Tc.

The superfluid properties in 4He and 3He are manifested by the absence of viscosity. The 4He atoms are Bosons that, below a transition temperature T, undergo the so-called Bose condensation into a k = 0 mode. The associated order parameter is the condensate's quantum wavefunction. Since 3He atoms are Fermions, below T they form Cooper pairs. Liquid crystals are anisotropic fluids composed of strongly elongated molecules. The nematic phase is characterized by the existence of a direction to which most of the molecules are parallel, so the order parameter is a second rank tensor describing correlations along that direction. Numerous other examples of critical phenomena such as: binary fluids, the metal-insulator transition, polymer transitions, spin- and charge-density waves, have their own order parameters. Landau deduced that second order phase transitions are associated with symmetry breaking and can be qualitatively described by an order parameter . Assuming that the free energy F depends on V,T and , the equilibrium conditions are:
F (T , V , ) = 0 and =
0

2 F (T , V , ) 2
= 0

>0,

(2)

where 0 is the equilibrium value of . The universality hypothesis states that any two physical systems with the same spatial dimensionality, d, and the same number of order parameter components, n, belong to the same universality class having identical critical exponents (see Table 2). Table 2 Examples of Universality Classes. System Absorbed films Superfluid He4 film Uniaxial ferromagnets Fluids Mixtures, alloys Planar ferromagnets Superfluids Isotropic ferromagnets Order Parameter Surface density Superfluid wave function Magnetization Density difference Concentration difference Magnetization Superfluid wave function Magnetization

Universality Class d=2 d=2 d=3 d=3 d=3 d=3 d=3 d=3 n=1 n=2 n=1 n=1 n=1 n=2 n=2 n=3

NL2674

Order Parameters

Order parameters accompany broken symmetry phenomena where the new ground state of the system does not possess the full symmetry of the Hamiltonian. A classic example is the ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic phase transition at Tc where the full rotational symmetry of the paramagnetic phase is broken by the axiality of the ground ferromagnetic state below Tc. When a symmetry that is broken is continuous, a massless Goldstone Boson excitation appears whose frequency vanishes at long wavelengths. Examples of Goldstone Bosons include ferromagnetic domain walls and acoustic soft modes in structural phase transitions. There exist several different types of broken symmetries: (a) translational (crystal formation, structural transitions), (b) gauge (superfluidity, superconductivity), (c) time reversal (ferromagnets), (d) local rotational (liquid crystals), (e) rotational (some structural phase transitions), (f) space inversion (ferroelectricity). Gauge symmetry is a universal property of Hamiltonians whenever the total number of particles is conserved or a generalized charge-like conserved quantity exists. Then, the order parameter is complex and its local density is = * (r ) so that a phase shift e i leaves the Hamiltonian invariant. Defects in the order parameter space occur naturally as: a) topological (i.e. kinks also referred to as domain walls) b) non-topological (i.e. solitons, also called nucleation centers) and they can be obtained as solutions to the equations of motion for the order parameter field. Also, point defects, line defects, vortices, dislocations, vacancies, interstitials with attendant singularities can be experimentally seen in critical systems. Hakens separation of modes in synergetic systems into masters (order parameters) and slaves has been influenced by Landaus theory of phase transitions. JACK A. TUSZYNSKI

See also critical phenomena; domain walls; ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity; hysteresis, Bose-Einstein condensation, liquid crystals, solitons, synergetics Further Reading Anderson, P.W. 1984. Basic Notions of Condensed Matter Physics. Menlo Park, California: Benjamin/Cummings Haken, H. 1980. Synergetics. Berlin: Springer-Verlag Landau, L.D. and Lifshitz, E.M. 1959. Statistical Physics. London: Pergamon Ma, S.-K. 1976. Modern Theory of Critical Phenomena. New York: Benjamin Reichl, L.E. 1979. A Modern Course in Statistical Physics. Austin, Texas: Univ. of Texas Press White, R.H. and Geballe, T. 1979. Long Range Order in Solids. New York: Academic Press Yeomans, J.M. 1992. Statistical Mechanics of Phase Transitions. Oxford: Oxford University Press