A new method for analyzing second-order phase transitions applied to the ferromagnetic transition of a polaronic system

A new thermodynamic method for analyzing second-order phase transitions in condensed matter systems is presented. It utilizes heat capacity and thermal expansion data simultaneously and predicts the critical temperature's pressure dependence. Application to the polaronic system La$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$MnO$_{3}$ reveals second-order behavior with an unusually large critical exponent.