Statistical theory of nucleation in the presence of uncharacterized impurities

First order phase transitions proceed via nucleation. The rate of nucleation varies exponentially with the free-energy barrier to nucleation, and so is highly sensitive to variations in this barrier. In practice, very few systems are absolutely pure, there are typically some impurities present which are rather poorly characterised. These interact with the nucleus, causing the barrier to vary, and so must be taken into account. Here the...