Fig. 8: Average composition determines steady-state dynamics.

a Snapshots depicting the evolution of the density fields in numerical simulations for ϕ₀ = 0.25 + i0.25 and α₀ = α₁ = 4 show that effervescence assumes modified forms for ϕ₀ ≠ 0 (see Supplementary Movie S4). At steady-state we find bulk phase separation with pulsating interfaces and spontaneous droplet creation. b As the average concentration is changed to ϕ₀ = 0.7, the dynamics initially resembles phase separation at equilibrium, with oscillations occurring at a later stage. Phase separation is arrested, as can be seen from the droplets at t = 23.5 that persist at all later times without coarsening to a steady-state. c Numerical verification of the linear stability analysis for α₁ = α₀ = 4. The order parameters σ and \(\bar{\delta {\phi }_{1}}\) vary as predicted by the stability analysis. Until the point marked with a dashed line, we find effervescence without travelling waves as seen in the first snapshot of (d). which give way to dynamics shown in panel a, finally giving way to that in (b). e Similar behaviour to c but for α₀ = 5 and α₁ = 2. The times are indicated next to the snapshots and measured in units of Γ⁻¹K.