Thermal conductivity in dynamics of first-order phase transition

TL;DR

This paper investigates how thermal conductivity influences the dynamics of first-order phase transitions, revealing that non-zero conductivity causes the spinodal instability to occur at the isothermal line, challenging ideal hydrodynamics assumptions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the critical role of thermal conductivity in the dynamics of phase transitions and shows that ideal hydrodynamics cannot accurately describe these processes.

Findings

Spinodal instability occurs at the isothermal line when thermal conductivity is non-zero.

Ideal hydrodynamics is inadequate for modeling first-order phase transitions.

The difference between isothermal and adiabatic spinodal regions is significant in transition dynamics.

Abstract

Effects of thermal conductivity on the dynamics of first-order phase transitions are studied. Important consequences of a difference of the isothermal and adiabatic spinodal regions are discussed. We demonstrate that in hydrodynamical calculations at non-zero thermal conductivity, $\kappa \neq 0$, onset of the spinodal instability occurs, when the system trajectory crosses the isothermal spinodal line. Only for $\kappa = 0$ it occurs at a cross of the adiabatic spinodal line. Therefore ideal hydrodynamics is not suited for an appropriate description of first-order phase transitions.