Nucleation in the chiral transition with an inhomogeneous background

Abstract

We consider an approximation procedure to evaluate the finite-temperature one-loop fermionic density in the presence of a chiral background field which systematically incorporates effects from inhomogeneities in the chiral field through a derivative expansion. Modifications in the effective potential and their consequences for the bubble nucleation process are discussed.

Comments: 4 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the proceedings of I Latin American Workshop on High Energy Phenomenology (LAWHEP 2005), Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1-3 Dec 2005