Activated instability of homogeneous bubble nucleation and growth
For the superheated Lennard-Jones liquid, the free energy of forming a bubble with a given particle number and volume is calculated using density-functional theory. As conjectured, a consequence of known properties of the critical cavity [S. N. Punnathanam and D. S. Corti, J. Chem. Phys. 119, 10 224...
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| Published in: | Physical review letters Vol. 99; no. 7; p. 076102 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
United States
17-08-2007
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | For the superheated Lennard-Jones liquid, the free energy of forming a bubble with a given particle number and volume is calculated using density-functional theory. As conjectured, a consequence of known properties of the critical cavity [S. N. Punnathanam and D. S. Corti, J. Chem. Phys. 119, 10 224 (2003), the free energy surface terminates at a locus of instability. These stability limits reside, however, unexpectedly close to the saddle point. A new picture of homogeneous bubble nucleation and growth emerges from our study, being more appropriately described as an "activated instability." |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 0031-9007 1079-7114 |
| DOI: | 10.1103/physrevlett.99.076102 |