Approaching equilibrium and the distribution of clusters

We investigate the approach to stable and metastable equilibrium in both nearest-neighbor and long-range Ising models using a cluster representation. The distribution of nucleation times is determined using the Metropolis algorithm and the corresponding phi(4) model using Langevin dynamics. We find that the nucleation rate is suppressed at early times even after global variables such as the magnetization and energy have apparently reached their time independent values. The mean number of clusters whose size is comparable to the size of the nucleating droplet becomes time independent at about the same time that the nucleation rate reaches its constant value. We also find subtle structural differences between the nucleating droplets formed before and after apparent metastable equilibrium has been established.