Pólya distribution and its asymptotics in nucleation theory

Abstract

A model of condensation-decay rate constants that are linear with respect to the number of monomers in the nucleus is considered. In a particular case of stable growth, this model leads to an exact solution of discrete kinetic equations of the theory of heterogeneous nucleation in the form of the Polya distribution function. An asymptotic solution in the region of large nucleus sizes that satisfies the normalization condition and provides correct mean nucleus size has been found. It is shown that, in terms of the logarithmic invariant size, the obtained distribution has a universal time-independent form. The obtained solution, being more general than the double-exponent distribution used previously, describes both Gaussian and asymmetric distributions depending on the rate constant of condensation on a bare core. The obtained results are useful for modeling processes in some systems, in particular, the growth of linear chains, two-dimensional clusters, and filamentary nanocrystals.