Baryon Number Diffusion and Instabilities in the Quark/Hadron Phase Transition

Abstract

Hadron bubbles that nucleate with radius $R_{nuc}$ in a quark sea (if the phase transition is first order) are shown to be unstable to the growth of nonspherical structure when the bubble radii exceed a critical size of $20 - 10^3$ $R_{nuc}$. This instability is driven by a very thin layer of slowly diffusing excess baryon number that forms on the surface of the bubble wall and limits its growth. This instability occurs on a shorter length scale than those studied previously and these effects can thus be important for both cosmology and heavy ion collisions.