Sound propagation in phase-separating fluids

We examine sound propagation in two-phase states of one- and two-component fluids by taking into account heat and mass transport between the two phases. For the sake of simplicity, detailed calculations are performed on near-critical fluids undergoing nucleation or spinodal decomposition, which exhibit very large acoustic anomalies at relatively low frequencies. As a universal relation the zero-frequency sound speed is reduced to 82% of the sound speed without domains in near-critical pure fluids. However, our predictions can be applied even to fluids far from criticality. One of our main findings is that, when droplets are sparsely distributed, sounds can induce latent-heat generation or absorption at the interfaces and produce long-range temperature gradients extending far from the droplets. The sounds are then anomalously attenuated at low frequencies, and the effect may be used to detect onset of nucleation. We also calculate a frequency-dependent adiabatic compressibility in two-phase states, which is valid even far from criticality and is applicable to bubbly fluids. It reproduces the effective-medium theory at relatively high frequencies and a Landau-Lifshitz result in the zero-frequency limit. The mechanism investigated is general and is not limited to fluids.