On the nature of the nearest singularities of the free energy in the neighborhood of a critical point (Q1080236)

Algebraic functions are used to provide an example of multiple-valued functions which coincide with a model (single-valued) free energy on one sheet of the Riemann surface in the neighborhood of a critical point. For the case of homogeneous free energies and \(\alpha =\alpha '=0\), there are enough conditions to determine the behaviour of the nearest singularities (branch points) to the critical point of the algebraic function. If no other singularities are present these branch points would represent the spinodal line. The particular exponents of the two-dimensional Ising model are used to provide a specific example.