164 research outputs found
Gravitational coupling of neutrinos in a medium
In a medium that contains electrons but not the other charged leptons, such
as normal matter, the gravitational interactions of neutrinos are not the same
for all the neutrino flavors. We calculate the leading order matter-induced
corrections to the neutrino gravitational interactions in such a medium and
consider some of their physical implications.Comment: 21 pages, Latex, uses axodraw.sty (typos corrected; two references
added. To appear in Phys. Rev. D
Nucleon contribution to the neutrino electromagnetic vertex in matter
We calculate the nucleon contribution to the electromagnetic vertex of a
neutrino in a background of particles, including the effect of the anomalous
magnetic moment of the nucleons. Explicit formulas for the form factors are
given in various physical limits of practical interest. Several applications of
the results are mentioned, including the effect of an external magnetic field
on the dispersion relation of a neutrino in matter.Comment: LaTeX, 18 pages; to appear in PR
Electromagnetic properties of a neutrino stream
In a medium that contains a neutrino background in addition to the matter
particles, the neutrinos contribute to the photon self-energy as a result of
the effective electromagnetic vertex that they acquire in the presence of
matter. We calculate the contribution to the photon self-energy in a dense
plasma, due to the presence of a gas of charged particles, or neutrinos, that
moves as a whole relative to the plasma. General formulas for the transverse
and longitudinal components of the photon polarization tensor are obtained in
terms of the momentum distribution functions of the particles in the medium,
and explicit results are given for various limiting cases of practical
interest. The formulas are used to study the electromagnetic properties of a
plasma that contains a beam of neutrinos. The transverse and longitudinal
photon dispersion relations are studied in some detail. Our results do not
support the idea that neutrino streaming instabilities can develop in such a
system. We also indicate how the phenomenon of optical activity of the neutrino
gas is modified due to the velocity of the neutrino background relative to the
plasma. The general approach and results can be adapted to similar problems
involving relativistic plasmas and high-temperature gauge theories in other
environments.Comment: Revtex, 19 pages and 3 included ps file
Gauge Independence of Limiting Cases of One-Loop Electron Dispersion Relation in High-Temperature QED
Assuming high temperature and taking subleading temperature dependence into
account, gauge dependence of one-loop electron dispersion relation is
investigated in massless QED at zero chemical potential. The analysis is
carried out using a general linear covariant gauge. The equation governing the
gauge dependence of the dispersion relation is obtained and used to prove that
the dispersion relation is gauge independent in the limiting case of momenta
much larger than . It is also shown that the effective mass is not
influenced by the leading temperature dependence of the gauge dependent part of
the effective self-energy. As a result the effective mass, which is of order
, does not receive a correction of order from one loop, independent
of the gauge parameter.Comment: Revised and enlarged version, 14 pages, Revte
Pulsar velocities due to a violation of the equivalence principle by neutrinos
We consider the pulsar velocity problem and relate it to some unconventional
neutrino oscillation mechanisms based on a violation of the equivalence
principle by neutrinos. We show that the observed pulsar velocities may be
explained by violations at the level from 10^{-9} to 10^{-10} in the case of a
non-universal tensor neutrino-gravity coupling, whereas there is no solution in
the case of a non-universal scalar neutrino-gravity coupling. Neutrinos may
remain massless and the requisite magnetic field strength is similar to that in
the conventional mass oscillation mechanism.Comment: 6 pages, minor changes, to appear in Mod. Phys. Let
Radiative Neutrino Decay in Media
In this letter we introduce a new method to determine the radiative neutrino
decay rate in the presence of a medium. Our approach is based on the
generalisation of the optical theorem at finite temperature and density.
Differently from previous works on this subject, our method allows to account
for dispersive and dissipative electromagnetic properties of the medium. Some
inconsistencies that are present in the literature are pointed-out and
corrected here. We shortly discuss the relevance of our results for neutrino
evolution in the early universe.Comment: 11 pages, 3 encapsulated figure
Pulsar kicks from neutrino oscillations
Neutrino oscillations can explain the observed motion of pulsars. We show
that two different models of neutrino emission from a cooling neutron star are
in good quantitative agreement and predict the same order of magnitude for the
pulsar kick velocity, consistent with the data.Comment: revtex; 4 page
Momentum-dependent contributions to the gravitational coupling of neutrinos in a medium
When neutrinos travel through a normal matter medium, the electron neutrinos
couple differently to gravity compared to the other neutrinos, due to the
presence of electrons in the medium and the absence of the other charged
leptons. We calculate the momentum-dependent part of the matter-induced
gravitational couplings of the neutrinos under such conditions, which arise at
order , and determine their contribution to the neutrino dispersion
relation in the presence of a gravitational potential .
These new contributions vanish for the muon and tau neutrinos. For electron
neutrinos with momentum , they are of the order of the usual Wolfenstein
term times the factor , for high energy
neutrinos. In environments where the gravitational potential is substantial,
such as those in the vicinity of Active Galactic Nuclei, they could be the
dominant term in the neutrino dispersion relation. They must also be taken into
account in the analysis of possible violations of the Equivalence Principle in
the neutrino sector, in experimental settings involving high energy neutrinos
traveling through a matter background.Comment: Minor corrections in the references; one reference adde
Neutrino self-energy and dispersion in a medium with magnetic field
We calculate the one-loop thermal self-energy of a neutrino in a constant and
homogeneous magnetic field to all orders in the magnetic field strength using
Schwinger's proper time method. We obtain the dispersion relation under various
conditions.Comment: 17 pp, RevTeX, one figur
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