A kinetic theory of homogeneous bubble nucleation

A kinetic theory of homogeneous bubble nucleation based on the original ideas of Ruckenstein and co-workers is presented. Such a theory is applied to the superheated Lennard-Jones fluid and presents two important features. The first is the explicit calculation of the rate of escape of molecules from a potential energy well established by the interface between the emerging vapor embryo and the metastable liquid. The second is the formulation of a population balance based on the excess number in the embryo, defined as the difference between the number of molecules in the embryo and number of molecules in a region of the same size occupied by the bulk metastable liquid.