The linear sigma model with quarks at very low temperatures provides an effective description for the thermodynamics of the strong interaction in cold and dense matter , being especially useful at densities found in compact stars and protoneutron star matter .
Using the \overline { MS } one-loop effective potential , we compute quantities that are relevant in the process of nucleation of droplets of quark matter in this scenario .
In particular , we show that the model predicts a surface tension of \Sigma \sim 5 – 15 ~ { } MeV/fm ^ { 2 } , rendering nucleation of quark matter possible during the early post-bounce stage of core collapse supernovae .
Including temperature effects and vacuum logarithmic corrections , we find a clear competition between these features in characterizing the dynamics of the chiral phase conversion , so that if the temperature is low enough the consistent inclusion of vacuum corrections could help preventing the nucleation of quark matter during the collapse process .
We also discuss the first interaction corrections that come about at two-loop order .