Symmetries and criticality of generalised van der Waals models

Abstract

Abstract We consider a family of thermodynamic models such that the energy density can be expressed as an asymptotic expansion in the scale formal parameter and whose terms are suitable functions of the volume density. We examine the possibility to construct solutions for the Maxwell thermodynamic relations relying on their symmetry properties and deduce the critical properties implied in terms of the dynamics of coexistence curves in the space of thermodynamic variables.