  The rearrangement of single-particle degrees of freedom of a dilute
two-dimensional electron gas in the vicinity of the quantum critical point is
examined within a microscopic approach. It is shown that just beyond the
critical point, the Landau state undergoes self-consistent rearrangement of the
quasiparticle spectrum and momentum distribution. At very low temperatures,
there emerges a multi-connected quasiparticle momentum distribution. With
increasing temperature, two crossovers occur: a fermion condensate appears in
the first and disappears in the second, giving way to universal
non-Fermi-liquid behavior. Manifestations of these crossovers in thermodynamic
properties of the electron gas are studied and characterized. The four
quasiparticle phases predicted to exist in the vicinity of the critical point
are collected in a schematic phase diagram.
