Work

Fluctuating chemically active droplets

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: We study size fluctuations of chemically active droplets in the regime of weak reactions and strong phase separation. By combining a thin-interface model for the deterministic droplet growth with stochastic noise based on fluctuation-dissipation arguments, we report excellent quantitative agreement between our theory and numerical field simulations. Finally, we use our model to infer the effective non-equilibrium potential that governs droplet growth, and show that active reactions that enable size control suppress nucleation.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2610.08154

Authors: Kusters, Guido L. A., Ziethen, Noah, Cates, Michael E., Zwicker, David

Institutions: Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, University of Cambridge

Language: English

Topic: Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer

Subfield: Computational Mechanics

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Commission, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Awards: G5417421459, Nucleation and Extinction in Nonequilibrium Statistical Field Theories

OpenAlex ID: W7220973763

Cites: 1

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Related to: 10