Nonmaximal Isotropy Groups and Successive Phase Transitions

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Abstract
A phenomenological Landau model which describes a simple continuous transition from a high-symmetry phase to a phase associated with a nonmaximal isotropy subgroup—hitherto conjectured impossible—is constructed. A novel feature of the model is that a single order parameter describes successive simple continuous phase transitions between three or more phases of different symmetries. Effects of fluctuations are considered within a renormalization-group approach.