STATISTICAL PREFACTOR AND NUCLEATION RATE NEAR AND OUT OF THE CRITICAL-POINT

The nucleation rate derived in the classical theory contains at least one undetermined parameter, which may be expressed in terms of the Lan ger first-principles theory. But the uncertainties in the accounting f or fluctuation modes, which are either absorbed into the free energy o f a critical cluster or not, result in different evaluations of the st atistical prefactor and nucleation rate. We get the scaling approximat ions of the nucleation rate for the vapour condensation both near and out of the critical range. The results obtained deserve the experiment al verification to resolve the theoretical uncertainty. (C) 1998 Elsev ier Science B.V.