Nucleation Theory for Capillary Condensation

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the thermally activated dynamics of the capillary condensation. We present a simple model which enables us to identify the critical nucleus involved in the transition mechanism. This simple model is then applied to calculate the nucleation barrier from which we can obtain informations on the nucleation time. These results are compared to the numerical simulation of a Landau-Ginzburg model for the liquid-vapor interface combined with a Langevin dynamics.