  The possibility of a hadron-quark phase transition in extreme astrophysical
phenomena such as the collapse of a supernova is not discarded by the modern
knowledge of the high-energy nuclear and quark-matter equations of state. Both
the density and the temperature attainable in such extreme processes are
possibly high enough to trigger a chiral phase transition. However, the time
scales involved are an important issue. Even if the physical conditions for the
phase transition are favorable (for a system in equilibrium), there may not be
enough time for the dynamical process of phase conversion to be completed. We
analyze the relevant time scales for the phase conversion via thermal
nucleation of bubbles of quark matter and compare them to the typical
astrophysical time scale, in order to verify the feasibility of the scenario of
hadron-quark phase conversion during, for example, the core-collapse of a
supernova.
