ABSTRACT
Transition in a Finite Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 2.10 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
In this chapter, we will consider the early stages of the kinetic processes by which the phase transitions caused by sudden changes of external control parameters are effected.As in the first chapter of this book, the generic example is phase separation of a binary (AB)mixture, which is suddenly cooled down fromhigh temperatures (where the mixture is thermodynamically stable at arbitrary compositions) to a temperature beneath the miscibility gap. In the final thermodynamic equilibrium state, one has coexistence betweenmacroscopically large domains ofA-rich andB-rich phases, with compositions given exactly according to the two branches of the coexistence curve (see Figure 1.3 in Chapter 1), the relative amounts of the two coexisting phases being given by the lever rule.
