Abstract

Melting and freezing are very common phenomena in everyday life. This review focusses on the statistical mechanics of these ubiquitous phase transitions and highlights recent work on the bulk and surface melting of solids, crystal growth from the melt, and the kinetic glass transition of supercooled liquids. Both phenomenological and microscopic density functional approaches are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on colloidal suspensions, which are realizations of simple liquids on a mesoscopic length scale that also exhibit melting and freezing phenomena.