Metastability and ripening of multi-component liquid mixtures

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase separation dynamics in multi-component liquid mixtures, revealing delayed Ostwald ripening due to metastable states and glass-like relaxation, which are relevant for cellular biophysical organization.

Contribution

It combines analytical and numerical methods to characterize how disordered interactions influence phase stability and ripening delays in complex mixtures.

Findings

Delayed Ostwald ripening due to metastable states

Identification of glass-like relaxation mechanisms

Characterization of long-lived metastable states with different wetting angles

Abstract

Understanding how multi-component liquid mixtures undergo phase separation is central to elucidating biophysical organization in the cell. Here, combining analytical and numerical results, we characterise the dynamics of mixtures with disordered interactions among the components. We first study how two coexisting phases become unstable, leading to multiphase coexistence. We then show that the scaling of droplet radius as $t^{1/3}$ and droplet number as $n^{-2/3}$, characteristic of Ostwald ripening in two dimensions, can be severely delayed. This delay arises from glass-like relaxation and the emergence of long-lived metastable states characterized by different wetting angles.