Z 3 metastable states in PNJL model

We study the ${Z}_{3}$ metastable states in the Polyakov loop Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. These states exist for temperatures above ${T}_{m}\ensuremath{\sim}194\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$ and can decay via bubble nucleation. We numerically solve the bounce equation to compute the nucleation rate. We speculate that, in the context of heavy-ion collisions, the likely scenario for the decay of the metastable states is via spinodal decomposition.