Crossover behavior in the isothermal susceptibility near the 3He critical point

Master crossover functions for one-component fluids

By introducing three well-defined dimensionless numbers, we establish the link between the scale dilatation method able to estimate master (i.e., unique) singular behaviors of the one-component fluid subclass and the universal crossover functions recently estimated [Garrabos and Bervillier, Phys. Rev. E 74, 021113 (2006)] from the bounded results of the massive renormalization scheme applied to the Phi(d)(4)(n) model of scalar order parameter (n=1) and three dimensions (d=3), representative of the Ising-like universality class. The master (i.e., rescaled) crossover functions are then able to fit the singular behaviors of any one-component fluid without adjustable parameter, using only one critical energy scale factor, one critical length scale factor, and two dimensionless asymptotic scale factors, which characterize the fluid critical interaction cell at its liquid-gas critical point. An additional adjustable parameter accounts for quantum effects in light fluids at the critical temperature. The effective extension of the thermal field range along the critical isochore where the master crossover functions seems to be valid corresponds to a correlation length greater than three times the effective range of the microscopic short-range molecular interaction.

Universality and quantum effects in one-component critical fluids

Nonuniversal scale transformations of the physical fields are extended to pure quantum fluids and used to calculate the susceptibility, the specific heat, and the order parameter density along the critical isochore of near its liquid-vapor critical point. Within the so-called preasymptotic domain, where the Wegner expansion restricted to the first term of confluent corrections to scaling is expected to be valid, the results are in agreement with the experimental measurements and recent predictions, either based on the minimal-substraction renormalization and the massive renormalization schemes within phi (4)(d = 3) (n = 1)the model, or based on the crossover parametric equation of state for Ising-like systems.

Minimal renormalization without epsilon expansion: four-loop free energy in three dimensions for general n above and below Tc

We present an analytic four-loop calculation of the free energy in three dimensions within the O(n) symmetric phi(4) theory at infinite cutoff for general n above and below T(c). It is shown that Goldstone singularities arising at intermediate stages of the calculation cancel among themselves. The correlation length above T(c) and an appropriately defined pseudocorrelation length below T(c) are calculated analytically up to four-loop order for general n. The method of minimal renormalization at fixed dimension d=3 is used to determine the analytic expressions for the four-loop series of the amplitude functions of the free energy, correlation length, and specific heat above and below T(c) in terms of the renormalized coupling. These expressions provide the basis for future accurate Borel resummations of universal amplitude ratios characterizing the asymptotic critical behavior and of crossover functions describing the nonasymptotic critical behavior. A brief application is given by a variational calculation of the universal specific-heat amplitude ratios A+/A- and P=alpha(-1)(1-A+/A-) and of the universal quantity R+(xi)=xi+0(A+)(1/d) for general n.

Application of minimal subtraction renormalization to crossover behavior near the 3He liquid-vapor critical point

Parametric expressions are used to calculate the isothermal susceptibility, specific heat, order parameter, and correlation length along the critical isochore and coexistence curve from the asymptotic region to crossover region. These expressions are based on the minimal-subtraction renormalization scheme within the phi(4) model. Using two adjustable parameters in these expressions, we fit the theory globally to recently obtained experimental measurements of isothermal susceptibility and specific heat along the critical isochore and coexistence curve, and early measurements of coexistence curve and light scattering intensity along the critical isochore of 3He near its liquid-vapor critical point. The theory provides good agreement with these experimental measurements within the reduced temperature range |t|<or=2x10(-2).

Classical-to-critical crossovers from field theory

We extend our previous determinations of nonasymptotic critical behavior of Phys. Rev. B 32, 7209 (1985) and 35, 3585 (1987) to accurate expressions of the complete classical-to-critical crossover (in three-dimensional field theory) in terms of the temperaturelike scaling field (i.e., along the critical isochore) for (1) the correlation length, the susceptibility, and the specific heat in the homogeneous phase for the n-vector model (n=1 to 3) and (2) the spontaneous magnetization (coexistence curve), the susceptibility, and the specific heat in the inhomogeneous phase for the Ising model (n=1). The present calculations include the seventh-loop order of Murray and Nickel and closely account for the up-to-date estimates of universal asymptotic critical quantities (exponents and amplitude combinations) provided by Guida and Zinn-Justin [J. Phys. A 31, 8103 (1998)].

Competition of mesoscales and crossover to tricriticality in polymer solutions

We show that the approach to asymptotic fluctuation-induced critical behavior in polymer solutions is governed by a competition between a correlation length diverging at the critical point and an additional mesoscopic length-scale, the radius of gyration. Accurate light scattering experiments on polystyrene solutions in cyclohexane with polymer molecular weights ranging from 200 000 up to 11.4x10(6) clearly demonstrate a crossover between two universal regimes: a regime with Ising asymptotic critical behavior, where the correlation length prevails, and a regime with tricritical theta-point behavior determined by a mesoscopic polymer-chain length.