Crystalline Nucleation in Deeply Quenched Liquids

Abstract
Employing a long-range potential model we investigate nucleation of crystalline droplets near the limit of stability of the metastable liquid. The nucleation process is found to differ considerably from what is predicted in standard models. In contrast to the classical nucleation mechanism this process provides a qualitative explanation of the results of molecular-dynamics simulations of systems undergoing deep quenches.