Is the entropy at the liquid-gas critical point of pure fluids proportional to a master dimensionless constant ?

Abstract

From a minimal set made of four scale factors defined at the liquid-gas critical point of a pure fluid, and one adjustable parameter which accounts for particle quantum effects, we demonstrate here a master singular behavior of the correlation length for the one-component fluid subclass, using an asymptotic scale dilatation of the physical fields. Such master behavior observed within the preasymtotic domain is in conformity with the renormalized $\Phi\_{d = 3}^{4}$ Field Theory predictions at large correlation length scale of the fluctuating order parameter, for the complete universality class of the symmetrical uniaxial 3D-Ising-like systems. The following consequences are discussed: (i) A comparison between the critical state of pure fluids and the zero-temperature state leads to an intuitive analogy with the (Nerst) third law of thermo- dynamics, which authorizes specific master form for hyperscaling within the subclass of pure fluids; (ii) A master constant value of the non-dimensional critical entropy can exist for all the pure fluids at the short-ranged lengthscale of the molecular interaction. From this latter hypothesis, we show that the needed four scale factors are the four preferred directions ex- pressing complete thermodynamic (linear) continuity crossing the liquid-gas critical point on the (pressure, volume, temperature) phase surface.