Freezing in the bulk controlled by prefreezing at a surface.
We use Monte Carlo simulations of the Lennard-Jones model to study the nucleation of a crystal phase at a flat surface. Our motivation is the observation that crystal phases almost always nucleate at a surface. We find that a surface phase transition (prefreezing) can control nucleation of the bulk crystal. This finding should be general and so surface phase behavior should be considered whenever nucleation of bulk phases at surfaces is considered. Also, nucleation of the bulk crystal transforms smoothly into the nucleation of a surface crystal layer as the bulk transition is crossed.
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Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.
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