Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 66, Nos. 1/2, 1992. p. 117-132.
We present a Monte Carlo study of the effect of perturbations on critical or nucleation droplets in both classical and spinodal nucleation. Locating the saddle point with an intervention technique, we determine that the effect of perturbations at the saddle point depends on their location in the droplet. We find that the most effective perturbations occur at the location of the maximum growth rate where the droplet is allowed to nucleate and grow unperturbed. Moreover, the decay of sufficiently perturbed droplets follows a path that can
be best characterized as a growth mode in reverse, specifically the decay of classical droplets is at the surface and that of spinodal droplets at the center independent of the location of the perturbation.