title: Activated instability of homogeneous bubble nucleation and growth.
abstract: 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."
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Uline
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Corti