THERMAL DECAYS IN A HOT FERMI GAS

We present a study of the decay bf metastable states of a scalar field via thermal activation, in the presence of a finite density of fermio ns. The process we consider is the nucleation of ''droplets'' of true vacuum inside the false one. We analyze a one-dimensional system of in teracting bosons and fermions, considering the latter at finite temper ature and with a given chemical potential. As a consequence of a noneq uilibrium formalism previously developed, we obtain time-dependent dec ay rates.