Melting is one of the most studied phase transitions important for atomic, molecular, colloidal, and protein systems. However, there is currently no microscopic experimentally accessible criteria that can be used to reliably track a system evolution across the transition, while providing insights into melting nucleation and melting front evolution. To address this, we developed a theoretical mean-field framework with the normalised mean-square displacement between particles in neighbouring Voronoi cells serving as the local order parameter, measurable experimentally. We tested the framework in a number of colloidal and in silico particle-resolved experiments against systems with significantly different (Brownian and Newtonian) dynamic regimes and found that it provides excellent description of system evolution across melting point. This new approach suggests a broad scope for application in diverse areas of science from materials through to biology and beyond. Consequently, the results of this work provide a new guidance for nucleation theory of melting and are of broad interest in condensed matter, chemical physics, physical chemistry, materials science, and soft matter.
© 2021. The Author(s).