K. Lum et D. Chandler, PHASE-DIAGRAM AND FREE-ENERGIES OF VAPOR FILMS AND TUBES FOR A CONFINED FLUID, International journal of thermophysics, 19(3), 1998, pp. 845-855
When confined between two parallel drying surfaces that are separated
by a small distance, D, a liquid close to liquid-gas coexistence becom
es metastable and evaporates. This paper focuses on this surface-induc
ed phase transition. With mean field theory, we describe the pertinent
phases and the corresponding density profiles for a lattice gas model
. In one of the three phases, vapor films form between the liquid and
the drying surfaces. Analytical estimates and Monte Carlo simulations
indicated that the pathway to evaporation involves the concerted actio
n of high-amplitude fluctuations of the vapor-film interfaces and the
formation of vapor tubes that bridge these interfaces.