Analytical approach to time lag in binary nucleation

We present an analytical formula for the time required to establish steady state in a nucleating binary system. To test our solution, we evaluate the time lag for a range of activities of both components at the vapor-liquid t ransition, and show that our result is in much better agreement with a pure ly numerical simulation than other available analytical formulas, which ove restimate the time lag by factors of from 2 to 200. [S1063-651X(99)10705-0] .