Fluctuating hydrodynamics as a tool to investigate nucleation of cavitation bubbles
Vapor bubbles can be formed in liquids by increasing the temperature over the boiling threshold (evaporation) or by reducing the pressure below its vapor pressure threshold (cavitation). The liquid can be held in these tensile conditions (metastable states) for a long time without any bubble formation. The bubble nucleation is indeed an activated process, in fact a given amount of energy is needed to bring the liquid from that local stable condition into a more stable one, where a vapor bubble is formed.