Phase nucleation in curved space

L. R. GÓMEZ; N. A. GARCÍA; V. VITELLI; J. LORENZANA; D. A. VEGA

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

Nature Publishing Group

Lugar: London; Año: 2015 vol. 6 p. 68561 - 68569

2041-1723

Nucleation and growth is the dominant relaxation mechanism driving first-order phasetransitions. In two-dimensional flat systems, nucleation has been applied to a wide range ofproblems in physics, chemistry and biology. Here we study nucleation and growth oftwo-dimensional phases lying on curved surfaces and show that curvature modifies bothcritical sizes of nuclei and paths towards the equilibrium phase. In curved space, nucleationand growth becomes inherently inhomogeneous and critical nuclei form faster on regions ofpositive Gaussian curvature. Substrates of varying shape display complex energy landscapeswith several geometry-induced local minima, where initially propagating nuclei becomestabilized and trapped by the underlying curvature.