Gas–liquid nucleation in Lennard-Jones fluids

We have applied a nonclassical density functional theory of nucleation to the gas–liquid and liquid–gas transitions of a Lennard-Jones fluid. For the liquid-to-gas transition (cavitation) deviations from classical theory are extremely large: 15 orders of magnitude in rates. For the gas-to-liquid transition (condensation) the deviations are smaller in magnitude but still systematic. Our nonclassical theory agrees with classical theory in its prediction of the dependence of nucleation rates on supersaturation, but it differs in its prediction of temperature dependence. Good agreement is found between our theory and experiments on condensation nucleation of nonane.