Positive Tolman Length in a Lattice Gas with Three-Body Interactions

Abstract

We present a new method to determine the curvature dependence of the interface tension between coexisting phases in a finite volume from free energies obtained by Monte Carlo simulations. For the example of a lattice gas on a 3D fcc lattice with nearest neighbor three-body interactions, we demonstrate how to calculate the equimolar radius R(e) as well as the radius R(s) of the surface of tension and thus the Tolman length δ(R(s))=R(e)-R(s). Within the physically relevant range of radii, δ(R(s)) shows a pronounced R(s) dependence, such that the simple Tolman parametrization for the interface tension is refutable. For the present model, extrapolation of δ(R(s)) to R(s)→∞ by various methods clearly indicates a positive limiting value.