Fluctuation effects in metastable states near first order phase transitions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how fluctuations influence metastable states near first order phase transitions driven by external factors, providing theoretical calculations of their effects on key thermodynamic quantities.

Contribution

It presents a perturbation theory approach to quantify fluctuation effects near spinodal points in first order phase transitions, focusing on non-temperature driving factors.

Findings

Calculated fluctuation contributions to order parameter, energy, and free energy.

Analyzed effects near spinodal points in pre-transitional states.

Provided first-order perturbation results for fluctuation impacts.

Abstract

Fluctuation effects at first order phase transitions driven by changes of other-than-temperature factors like pressure, concentration, or external fields are investigated by perturbation theory. The results for the fluctuation contributions to the order parameter, the internal energy and the free energy at pre-transitional states near spinodal points of first order phase transitions are presented to the first-non-vanishing order of the expansion parameters of the theory.