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from Part I - General Aspects
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2025
The chapter starts by introducing the basic concepts of metastable and unstable states as well as time scales that control the occurrence of phase transitions. The limits for phase transitions taking place in equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium conditions are then established. In the latter case, thermally activated and athermal limits are distinguished associated with those situations where the transition is either driven or not driven by thermal fluctuations, respectively. Then the formal theory of the decay of metastable and unstable states in systems with conserved and non-conserved order parameters is developed. This general theory is in turn applied to the study of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation, spinodal decomposition and late stages of coarsening and domain growth.
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