Neutrino Processes in Strong Magnetic Fields

Abstract

The processes of electron neutrino capture on neutron and electron anti-neutrino capture on proton, and their reverse processes provide the dominant mechanisms for heating and cooling the material below the stalled shock in a core-collapse supernova. We summarize the major effects of strong magnetic fields on the rates of the above reactions and illustrate these effects with a simple supernova model. Due to parity violation of weak interaction the heating rates are asymmetric even for a uniform magnetic field. The cooling rates are also asymmetric for nonuniform fields. The most dramatic effect of strong magnetic fields of 10^16 G is suppression of the cooling rates by changing the equations of state through the phase space of electrons and positrons.