In its broadest sense, “universality” is a technical term for something quite ordinary. This chapter examines what is, in the physics literature, the paradigm example of universality; namely, the so-called universality of critical phenomena—certain kinds of phase transitions that systems (e.g.,fluids and magnets) can undergo. One of the most striking examples of universal behavior concerns the pattern displayed by molecularly distinct fluids near their so-called critical points. Kadanoff states the “hypothesis of universality” as follows: All phase transition problems can be divided into a small number of different classes depending upon the dimensionality of the system and the symmetries of the order state. As Kadanoff and others have emphasized, universal behavior reflects a stability of a certain behavior under perturbation of particular details. The concept of universality also depends upon a separation of scales and the fact that no nearby characteristic length (time) scale is present.
In its broadest sense, “universality” is a technical term for something quite ordinary. This chapter examines what is, in the physics literature, the paradigm example of universality; namely, the so-called universality of critical phenomena—certain kinds of phase transitions that systems (e.g.,fluids and magnets) can undergo. One of the most striking examples of universal behavior concerns the pattern displayed by molecularly distinct fluids near their so-called critical points. Kadanoff states the “hypothesis of universality” as follows: All phase transition problems can be divided into a small number of different classes depending upon the dimensionality of the system and the symmetries of the order state. As Kadanoff and others have emphasized, universal behavior reflects a stability of a certain behavior under perturbation of particular details. The concept of universality also depends upon a separation of scales and the fact that no nearby characteristic length (time) scale is present.
Phase, as the term is used in thermodynamics, refers to a spatially uniform equilibrium system. Substances undergo phase transitions, changes in phase that occur upon variations of state variables. The chemical potential of substances in coexisting phases has the same value in each of the phases in which coexistence occurs. The specific heat is discontinuous at the van der Waals critical point—a second-order phase transition in the Ehrenfest classification scheme. This chapter shows that one-dimensional systems cannot support phase transitions. Just as with liquid-vapor phase transitions, exponents characterize the critical behavior of magnetic systems. Magnets and fluids are different physical systems, yet they have the same critical behavior. Through the concept of order parameter, Landau theory subsumes the phase-transition behavior of different systems into one theory. A more physical way of demonstrating the existence of a phase transition would be to calculate the order parameter.
An introductory review of the central ideas in the modern theory of dynamic critical phenomena is followed by a more detailed account of recent developments in the field. The concepts of the conventional theory, mode-coupling, scaling, universality, and the renormalization group are introduced and are illustrated in the context of a simple example---the phase separation of a symmetric binary fluid. The renormalization group is then developed in some detail, and applied to a variety of systems. The main dynamic universality classes are identified and characterized. It is found that the mode-coupling and renormalization group theories successfully explain available experimental data at the critical point of pure fluids, and binary mixtures, and at many magnetic phase transitions, but that a number of discrepancies exist with data at the superfluid transition of 4He.
Abstract ‘The critical point’ in a phase diagram denotes the conditions under which a continuous transition between two states of matter occurs. Surprisingly, near the critical point diverse systems can have the same dependence of physical properties on parameters such as temperature. The only details that determine the critical exponents are the symmetry of the order parameter and the spatial dimensionality of the system. This independence from chemical and structural details, known as universality, presented a major challenge to theoretical physics for decades. Theory must deal with the large fluctuations in the amount of order that occurs close to the critical point. The successful theory developed by Ken Wilson exploits the fact that different states of a system and different systems can be related to one another by mathematically rescaling the length scales in the system. The mathematics involved can be made tractable by considering the abstract idea of a system with a variable number of spatial dimensions. The idea of rescaling is illustrated with the results of computer simulations of an Ising model and with images of fractals.
In this chapter, we investigate the concept of scaling, in particular the scaling hypothesis that has proved so important in the development of the modern theory of critical phenomena. Scaling refers to the way in which properties such as the susceptibility behave in the critical region as they approach infinity (or zero). In this discussion, it is important to be specific about the thermodynamic field variables used to represent the system as well as the direction in which the critical point is approached. A useful schematic in this regard is shown in figure 9.1, which shows phase coexistence diagrams for both an Ising-type magnet and a typical fluid. The fields for the magnet are (H, T ) while for the fluid they are (μ, T ). We note immediately from this figure that the magnet’s coexistence curve is coincident with the H = 0 axis and symmetric about the M = 0 axis. However, these features do not reflect in the corresponding diagrams for the fluid, with important implications for a scaling analysis in this system, which we take up later in this chapter. We illustrate the basic critical scaling laws using the Ising (magnet) system; however, the fact that similar scaling laws also apply to fluids is an important consequence of critical-point universality, a topic we have often alluded to in this text and which is discussed in more detail in chapter 10 dealing with the renormalization-group method.
Critical phenomena, characterized by abrupt changes in macroscopic properties near phase transition points, exhibit universal scaling behavior independent of microscopic details. This paper explores the hypothesis that entropy serves as a fundamental universal scaling law governing these phenomena. We review the theoretical foundations of critical phenomena, including Landau theory and the renormalization group, highlighting the role of critical exponents and scaling functions. We then propose a framework where the configurational entropy, entanglement entropy, and other entropic measures exhibit universal scaling, linking them directly to the underlying critical exponents. Our methodology involves analyzing how entropy behaves under coarse-graining transformations near critical points, identifying a potential entropic fixed point in the renormalization group flow. We present theoretical arguments suggesting that the information content, as quantified by various entropy definitions, reflects the diverging correlation length and the emergent scale invariance at criticality. The discussion extends to how different entropic forms, such as Rényi and Tsallis entropies, might provide a more generalized framework for understanding critical behavior in complex and non-extensive systems. By demonstrating entropy's role as a universal scaling law, this work offers a unifying perspective on critical phenomena, deepening our understanding of phase transitions and the emergence of macroscopic order from microscopic fluctuations.
Originally, the term ‘dynamic critical phenomena’ was coined for time-dependent properties near second-order phase transitions in thermal equilibrium . The kinetics of phase transitions in magnets, at the gas–liquid transition, and at the normal- to superfluid phase transition in helium 4 were among the prominent examples investigated already in the 1960s. The dynamic scaling hypothesis , generalizing the scaling ansatz for the static correlation function and introducing an additional dynamic critical exponent, successfully described a variety of these experiments. Yet only the development of the systematic renormalization group (RG) approach for critical phenomena in the subsequent decade provided a solid conceptual foundation for phenomenological scaling theories. Supplemented with exact solutions for certain idealized model systems, and guided by invaluable input from computer simulations in addition to experimental data, the renormalization group now provides a general framework to explore not only the static and dynamic properties near a critical point, but also the large-scale and low-frequency response in stable thermodynamic phases. Scaling concepts and the renormalization group have also been successfully applied to phase transitions at zero temperature driven by quantum rather than thermal fluctuations. It is to be hoped that RG methods may help to classify the strikingly rich phenomena encountered in far-from-equilibrium systems as well. Recent advances in studies of simple reaction-diffusion systems, active to absorbing state phase transitions, driven lattice gases, and scaling properties of moving interfaces and growing surfaces, among others, appear promising in this respect.