Scaling properties of the relaxation time near the mean-field spinodal

We study the relaxation processes of the infinitely long-range interaction model (the Husimi-Temperley model) near the spinodal point. We propose a unified finite-size scaling function near the spinodal point, including the metastable region, the spinodal point, and the unstable region. We explicitly adopt the Glauber dynamics, derive a master equation for the probability distribution of the total magnetization, and perform the so-called van Kampen Omega expansion (an expansion in terms of the inverse of the systems size), which leads to a Fokker-Planck equation. We analyze the scaling properties of the Fokker-Planck equation and confirm the obtained scaling plot by direct numerical solution of the original master equation, and by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of the stochastic decay process.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Mid-infrared spectroscopic investigation of the perfect vitrification of poly(ethylene glycol) aqueous solutions.

Crystallization/recrystallization behaviors of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) aqueous solutions with water contents (WC\u27s) of ∼36-51 wt % were investigated by temperature-variable mid-infrared spectroscopy. At a WC of 43.2 wt %, crystallization and recrystallization of water and PEG were not observed. At this specific WC value (WCPV), perfect vitrification occurred. Below and above the WCPV value, crystallization/recrystallization behaviors changed drastically. The crystallization temperature below WCPV (237 K) was ∼10 K greater than that above WCPV (226 K). Recrystallization above and below WCPV occurred in one (213 K) and two (198 and 210 K) steps, respectively. These findings resulted from the difference in the (re)crystallization behaviors of water molecules associated with PEG chains with helical and random-coil conformations. These two types of water molecules might have limiting concentrations for their (re)crystallization, indicating that perfect vitrification might have occurred when the concentrations of the two types of water molecules were less than the limiting concentrations of their (re)crystallization