Supernova and neutron-star limits on large extra dimensions reexamined

In theories with large extra dimensions, supernova (SN) cores are powerful sources of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravitons. A large fraction of these massive particles are gravitationally retained by the newly born neutron star (NS). The subsequent slow KK decays produce potentially observable gamma rays and heat the NS. We here show that the back-absorption of the gravitationally trapped KK gravitons does not significantly change our previous limits. We calculate the graviton emission rate in a nuclear medium by combining the low-energy classical bremsstrahlung rate with detailed-balancing arguments. This approach reproduces the previous thermal emission rate, but it is much simpler and allows for a calculation of the absorption rate by a trivial phase-space transformation. We derive systematically the dependence of the SN and NS limits on the number of extra dimensions.Comment: Erratum included (small numerical correction of neutron-star limits

Nuclear Effects on Bremsstrahlung Neutrino Rates of Astrophysical Interest

We calculate in this work the rates for the neutrino pair production by nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung taking into account the full contribution from a nuclear one-pion-exchange potential. It is shown that if the temperatures are low enough ($T \leq 20 MeV$), the integration over the nuclear part can be done for the general case, ranging from the completely degenerate (D) to the non-degenerate (ND) regime. We find that the inclusion of the full nuclear contribution enhances the neutrino pair production by $nn$ and $pp$ bremsstrahlung by a factor of about two in both the D and ND limits when compared with previous calculations. This result may be relevant for the physical conditions of interest in the semitransparent regions near the neutrinosphere in type II supernovae, cooling of neutron stars and other astrophysical situations.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, LaTex file. submitted to PR

Self-induced conversion in dense neutrino gases: Pendulum in flavour space

Neutrino-neutrino interactions can lead to collective flavour conversion effects in supernovae and in the early universe. We demonstrate that the case of "bipolar" oscillations, where a dense gas of neutrinos and antineutrinos in equal numbers completely converts from one flavour to another even if the mixing angle is small, is equivalent to a pendulum in flavour space. Bipolar flavour conversion corresponds to the swinging of the pendulum, which begins in an unstable upright position (the initial flavour), and passes through momentarily the vertically downward position (the other flavour) in the course of its motion. The time scale to complete one cycle of oscillation depends logarithmically on the vacuum mixing angle. Likewise, the presence of an ordinary medium can be shown analytically to contribute to a logarithmic increase in the bipolar conversion period. We further find that a more complex (and realistic) system of unequal numbers of neutrinos and antineutrinos is analogous to a spinning top subject to a torque. This analogy easily explains that such a system can oscillate in both the bipolar or the synchronised mode, depending on the neutrino density and the size of the neutrino-antineutrino asymmetry. Our simple model applies to isotropic and "single-angle" systems, as well as systems in which the matrix of neutrino-neutrino couplings possesses certain symmetries that prevent kinematical decoherence between the individual neutrino modes. In more general cases, however, and especially in the case of neutrinos emitted from a supernova core, these symmetries are not necessarily manifest. As a result, quick decoherence in flavour space, rather than collective bipolar oscillations, for both the normal and inverted mass hierarchies may in fact be the generic behaviour of dense neutrino gases

Neutrino and axion hot dark matter bounds after WMAP-7

We update cosmological hot dark matter constraints on neutrinos and hadronic axions. Our most restrictive limits use 7-year data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe for the cosmic microwave background anisotropies, the halo power spectrum (HPS) from the 7th data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the Hubble constant from Hubble Space Telescope observations. We find 95% C.L. upper limits of \sum m_\nu<0.44 eV (no axions), m_a<0.91 eV (assuming \sum m_\nu=0), and \sum m_\nu<0.41 eV and m_a<0.72 eV for two hot dark matter components after marginalising over the respective other mass. CMB data alone yield \sum m_\nu<1.19 eV (no axions), while for axions the HPS is crucial for deriving m_a constraints. This difference can be traced to the fact that for a given hot dark matter fraction axions are much more massive than neutrinos.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, uses iopart.cls; v2: one additional figure, references added, version accepted by JCA

Observational bounds on the cosmic radiation density

We consider the inference of the cosmic radiation density, traditionally parameterised as the effective number of neutrino species N_eff, from precision cosmological data. Paying particular attention to systematic effects, notably scale-dependent biasing in the galaxy power spectrum, we find no evidence for a significant deviation of N_eff from the standard value of N_eff^0=3.046 in any combination of cosmological data sets, in contrast to some recent conclusions of other authors. The combination of all available data in the linear regime prefers, in the context of a ``vanilla+N_eff'' cosmological model, 1.1<N_eff<4.8 (95% C.L.) with a best-fit value of 2.6. Adding data at smaller scales, notably the Lyman-alpha forest, we find 2.2<N_eff<5.8 (95% C.L.) with 3.8 as the best fit. Inclusion of the Lyman-alpha data shifts the preferred N_eff upwards because the sigma_8 value derived from the SDSS Lyman-alpha data is inconsistent with that inferred from CMB. In an extended cosmological model that includes a nonzero mass for N_eff neutrino flavours, a running scalar spectral index and a w parameter for the dark energy, we find 0.8<N_eff<6.1 (95% C.L.) with 3.0 as the best fit.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, uses iopart.cls; v2: 1 new figure, references added, matches published versio

Supernova neutrinos and antineutrinos: ternary luminosity diagram and spectral split patterns

In core-collapse supernovae, the nu_e and anti-nu_e species may experience collective flavor swaps to non-electron species nu_x, within energy intervals limited by relatively sharp boundaries ("splits"). These phenomena appear to depend sensitively upon the initial energy spectra and luminosities. We investigate the effect of generic variations of the fractional luminosities (l_e, l_{anti-e}, l_x) with respect to the usual "energy equipartition" case (1/6, 1/6, 1/6), within an early-time supernova scenario with fixed thermal spectra and total luminosity. We represent the constraint l_e+l_{anti-e}+4l_x=1 in a ternary diagram, which is explored via numerical experiments (in single-angle approximation) over an evenly-spaced grid of points. In inverted hierarchy, single splits arise in most cases, but an abrupt transition to double splits is observed for a few points surrounding the equipartition one. In normal hierarchy, collective effects turn out to be unobservable at all grid points but one, where single splits occur. Admissible deviations from equipartition may thus induce dramatic changes in the shape of supernova (anti)neutrino spectra. The observed patterns are interpreted in terms of initial flavor polarization vectors (defining boundaries for the single/double split transitions), lepton number conservation, and minimization of potential energy.Comment: 24 pages, including 14 figures (1 section with 2 figures added). Accepted for publication in JCA

Cosmological constraints on neutrino plus axion hot dark matter: Update after WMAP-5

We update our previous constraints on two-component hot dark matter (axions and neutrinos), including the recent WMAP 5-year data release. Marginalising over sum m_nu provides m_a < 1.02 eV (95% C.L.) for the axion mass. In the absence of axions we find sum m_nu < 0.63 eV (95% C.L.).Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, uses iopart.cls; v2 matches published versio

Astrophysical Axion Bounds

Axion emission by hot and dense plasmas is a new energy-loss channel for stars. Observational consequences include a modification of the solar sound-speed profile, an increase of the solar neutrino flux, a reduction of the helium-burning lifetime of globular-cluster stars, accelerated white-dwarf cooling, and a reduction of the supernova SN 1987A neutrino burst duration. We review and update these arguments and summarize the resulting axion constraints.Comment: Contribution to Axion volume of Lecture Notes in Physics, 20 pages, 3 figure