Metastable States In The Van Der Waals-Maxwell Theory
Abstract
A slight modification of the recent Penrose and Lebowitz treatment of thermodynamic metastable states is presented. For the case of periodic boundary conditions, this modification allows the condition of metastability to be extended to all the metastable states in the van der Waals-Maxwell theory of the liquid-vapor phase transition, that is, for all states satisfying f0(ρ)+1/2 αρ2>f(ρ, 0+) and f″0(ρ)+α≥x>0 where f(ρ, 0+) is the (stable) Helmholtz free energy density of the generalized van der Waals-Maxwell theory and f0(ρ) is the Helmholtz free energy density of a reference system with no long-range interaction, α is a "mean field"-type term arising from a long-range Kac interaction, ρ is the overall mean particle density, and x is any positive number. For the case of rigid-wall boundary conditions, a more restrictive condition is placed on x. © 1973 Plenum Publishing Corporation.
Recommended Citation
K. Millard and L. H. Lund, "Metastable States In The Van Der Waals-Maxwell Theory," Journal of Statistical Physics, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 225 - 230, Springer, Jul 1973.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01012567
Department(s)
Physics
Keywords and Phrases
Classical fluids; statistical mechanics; thermodynamic metastability
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1572-9613; 0022-4715
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2023 Springer, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jul 1973
