We study the transition from npe-type nuclear matter (consisting of neutrons, protons, and electrons) to matter containing strangeness, using a Walecka-type model predicting a first-order kaon-condensate phase transition. We examine the free energy of droplets of K matter as the density, temperature, and neutrino fraction are varied. Langer nucleation rate theory is then used to approximate the rate at which critical droplets of the new phase are produced by thermal fluctuations, thus giving an estimate of the time required for the new (mixed) phase to appear at various densities and various times in the cooling history of the protoneutron star. We also discuss the famous difficulty of “simultaneous weak interactions” which we connect to the literature on nontopological solitons. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results to several phenomenological issues involving neutron star phase transitions.

• Received 14 January 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.65.045805