Van der Waals Theory of Surface Melting

We introduce a multi-order parameter van der Waals theory for surface melting near the triple point T t which is based on density functional techniques and includes long-range interparticle forces. As a result we establish that long-range attractive forces induce a stretched exponential decay as T → T t of the residual crystal order in the quasi-liquid interfacial layer. If these forces are weak, a crossover from logarithmic to power logarithmic to power law growth in T t - T of the interfacial width occurs.