The droplet evaporation/condensation transition in a finite volume

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A fluid in the NVT ensemble at T less than the critical temperature Tc and rho = N/V somewhat in excess of rhocoex (density of the saturated gas in the gas-liquid transition) is considered. For V->infinity, a macroscopic liquid droplet coexists with surrounding saturated gas according to the lever rule. For finite V, droplets can only exist if they exceed a minimum size. A (rounded) first order transition of the system occurs when the droplet evaporates into the supersaturated gas.Simulation evidence for this transition is given for a Lennard-Jones model and interpreted by a phenomenological theory. At the transition, the chemical potential difference muₜ-mucoex scales like L(-d/(d+1)) for a cubic volume V=Lᵈ in d dimensions, as L->infinity.