Fluctuation effects at solid-liquid interfaces

Based on a generalized lattice gas theory and a Brownian dynamics simulation, we show that the fluctuations of the mean square displacements of a crystalline substrate coupled to the fluctuations of the adsorbate coverage may induce critical behavior for both subsystems. It is shown that an increase of the Lindemann parameter L-0 for the substrate driver the adsorbate to condensate. An increase of the coverage fluctuations induces a local melting of the substrate lattice, as this follows from an increase of the coverage-dependent Lindemann parameter L. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.