New reentrant wetting phenomena and critical behavior near bulk critical points

Abstract

Wetting phenomena near the bulk critical point of an adsorbate are examined for the realistic case of long-ranged (e.g., van der Waals) forces, with use of mean-field theory for an Ising lattice-gas system. For moderately strong long-ranged forces new critical behavior appears at and near ${\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{c}}$, accompanied by both reentrant wetting and dewetting transitions and the appearance of two distinct wetting phases.