Homogeneous nucleation: Comparison between two theories

Abstract

The classical nucleation theory of Becker, D\"{o}ring and Zeldovich is compared with the Langer coarse-grained field approach to the nucleation phenomenon. Both formalisms have been applied to the condensation from a supersaturated vapor. It is shown that the nucleation rate derived in the classical theory can be expressed in a form equivalent to that of the field nucleation theory. This equivalence serves as an explanation of the puzzling fact that the numerical predictions of both theories for condensation of Xe and CO$_2$ are almost identical though the standard analytical expressions for the nucleation rates are different. The results obtained can help to link the theories of nucleation and their approximations.