Nonequilibrium Precursor Model for the Onset of Percolation in a Two-Phase System

Abstract

Using a Boltzmann equation, we investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of nonperturbative fluctuations within the context of Ginzburg-Landau models. As an illustration, we examine how a two-phase system initially prepared in a homogeneous, low-temperature phase becomes populated by precursors of the opposite phase as the temperature is increased. We compute the critical value of the order parameter for the onset of percolation, which signals the breakdown of the conventional dilute gas approximation.