ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to the study of the diffusion flow fluctuations on the liquid–gas interphase boundary as illustrated by the nucleation phenomenon, that is, growth of a liquid embryo from a gas–vapor mixture. The classical phenomenological nucleation theory developed by Gibbs, Volmer, Becker, Doering, and Zeldovich has been discussed in Frenkel’s monograph and treats an embryo growth as a random Markov process. The nucleation process is considered to be a result of diffusion–flow fluctuations across the embryo–vapor interphase surface. This new approach allows for a change in vapor concentration in the vicinity of an embryo and applies for arbitrary Knudsen numbers. The chapter investigates a system consisting of a nonequilibrium subsystem—a liquid embryo interacting with a gaseous mixture. It considers approach to the nucleation theory applicable to the specific case of a rarefied gas–vapor mixture in which the free path length is much greater the critical embryo size.
