Relation between the Liquid Spinodal Pressure and the Lateral Pressure Profile at the Liquid-Vapor Interface

Computer simulations of the liquid vapor interface of the Lennard-Jones fluid and SPC/E water are performed on the (N,V,T) ensemble at various temperatures, in order to compare the minimum of the lateral pressure profile with the spinodal pressure. Our results show that these two pressures agree within error bars for water in a rather broad range of temperatures, but only a direct proportionality between these values is found in the case of the Lennard-Jones system. Our results might offer a novel tool to estimate the spinodal line in situations of practical relevance.