Thermal nucleation and cavitation in helium-3 fluids

Authors

Xiao Cheng Zeng, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
D.W. Oxtoby, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
E. Cheng, University of California, Berkeley

Date of this Version

3-8-1996

Comments

Published by American Institute of Physics. J. Chem. Physics 104 (10), 8 March 1996. ©1996 American Institute of Physics. Permission to use. http://jcp.aip.org/.

Abstract

We have investigated droplet nucleation and bubble cavitation in the quantum fluid helium-3 based on a nonlocal density-functional approach. A marked effect of droplet (or bubble) curvature on the rate of droplet nucleation or cavitation has been found. Without considering this curvature effect (as in the classical theory of nucleation) the droplet nucleation rate for helium-3 could be underestimated (i.e., near 1 K) or overestimated (i.e., near 2.5 K) by orders of magnitude, respectively; for bubble cavitation, the rate could be underestimated by more than twenty orders of magnitude (near 1 K).