Quantum Kinetics of Deconfinement Transitions in Dense Nuclear Matter: Dissipation Effects at Low Temperatures

Abstract

Effects of energy dissipation on quantum nucleation of two-flavor quark matter in dense nuclear matter encountered in neutron star cores are examined at low temperatures. We find that low-energy excitations of nucleons and electrons reduce the nucleation rate exponentially via their collisions with the surface of a quark matter droplet.

Comments: 9 pages (LaTeX, PTP style), 2 Postscript figures, to be published in Prog. Theor. Phys. (Letters)