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G. Raffelt

Publications and source records attributed to G. Raffelt.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Cherenkov radiation by neutrinos

We discuss the Cherenkov process $ν\toνγ$ in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field. The neutrinos are taken to be massless with only standard-model couplings. The magnetic field fulfills the dual purpose of inducing an effective neutrino-photon vertex and of modifying the photon dispersion relation such that the Cherenkov condition $ω<|{\bf k}|$ is fulfilled. For a field strength $B_{\rm crit}=m_e^2/e=4.41\times10^{13} Gauss$ and for $E=2m_e$ the Cherenkov rate is about $6\times10^{-11}s^{-1}$.

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Some Astrophysical Implications of Experimentally Favored Neutrino Masses and Mixings

Positive evidence for neutrino oscillations is mounting from the solar and atmospheric neutrino anomalies and the LSND experiment. Accordingly, the neutrino mass differences appear to lie in the sub-eV range and at least some of the mixing angles appear to be large. We explore some of the consequences of this picture for supernova (SN) physics and cosmology. In particuler, we discuss if a conflict between the solar vacuum solution and the SN 1987A signal can be avoided, and the role of future cosmic microwave background measurements to reveal the presence of a cosmological hot dark matter component.

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Axion Hunting at the Turn of the Millenium

The status of several current and proposed experiments to search for galactic dark-matter and solar axions is reviewed in the light of astrophysical and cosmological limits on the Peccei-Quinn scale.

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Stellar-Evolution Limits on Axion Properties

If axions exist, they are copiously produced in hot and dense plasmas, carrying away energy directly from the interior of stars. Various astronomical observables constrain the operation of such anomalous stellar energy-loss channels and thus provide restrictive limits on the axion interactions with photons, nucleons, and electrons. In typical axion models a limit m_a < 0.01 eV is implied. The main arguments leading to this result are explained, including more recent work on the important supernova 1987A constraint.

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The Bremsstrahlung Process Nu_Tau -> Nu_e E+ E- Gamma

The bremsstrahlung process Nu_Tau -> Nu_e E+ E- Gamma is the dominant photon-producing decay of heavy Tau neutrinos with m_Nu_Tau > 2 m_e so that this process is instrumental for supernova 1987A constraints on the properties of these particles, notably on their mixing amplitude with Nu_e. We calculate the rate of the bremsstrahlung process as well as the photon spectrum and the angular distribution relative to the spin direction of the parent neutrino. We carefully pay attention to the difference between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos.

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Axion Emission by Magnetic-Field Induced Conversion of Longitudinal Plasmons

Magnetic fields mix axions with photons, allowing for the cyclotron process e -> e + a by virtue of an intermediate plasmon even if axions do not couple to electrons at tree level. The axion and longitudinal-plasmon dispersion relations always cross for a certain wave number, leading to a resonant enhancement of this process. Even then, however, it cannot quite compete with the usual nucleon processes in a supernova core. The well-known axion window 10^{-5} eV < m_a < 10^{-2} eV remains open and axions may still constitute the cosmic dark matter.

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Proceedings "Neutrino Astrophysics"

Collection of "Extended Abstracts" of talks presented at the SFB-375 workshop NEUTRINO ASTROPHYSICS, Ringberg Castle, Tegernsee, Germany, 20-24 Oct. 1997. Topics include Solar Neutrinos, Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Bursts, High-Energy Neutrinos (atmospheric, astrophysical), Cosmology, and Future Prospects. The focus is on astrophysical and experimental/observational aspects of astrophysical neutrinos while particle theory and neutrino laboratory experiments are not covered.

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Photon Dispersion in a Supernova Core

While the photon forward-scattering amplitude on free magnetic dipoles (e.g. free neutrons) vanishes, the nucleon magnetic moments still contribute significantly to the photon dispersion relation in a supernova (SN) core where the nucleon spins are not free due to their interaction. We study the frequency dependence of the relevant spin susceptibility in a toy model with only neutrons which interact by one-pion exchange. Our approach amounts to calculating the photon absorption rate from the inverse bremsstrahlung process gamma n n --> n n, and then deriving the refractive index n_refr with the help of the Kramers-Kronig relation. In the static limit (omega --> 0) the dispersion relation is governed by the Pauli susceptibility chi_Pauli so that (n_refr)^2-1 approx chi_Pauli > 0. For omega somewhat above the neutron spin-relaxation rate Gamma_sigma we find (n_refr)^2-1< 0, and for omega >> Gamma_sigma the photon dispersion relation acquires the form omega^2-k^2=(m_gamma)^2. An exact expression for the "transverse photon mass" m_gamma is given in terms of the f-sum of the neutron spin autocorrelation function; an estimate is (m_gamma)^2 approx chi_Pauli T Gamma_sigma. The dominant contribution to n_refr$ in a SN core remains the electron plasma frequency so that the Cherenkov processes gamma nu <--> nu remain forbidden for all photon frequencies.

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Neutrino Oscillations and the Supernova 1987A Signal

We study the impact of neutrino oscillations on the interpretation of the supernova (SN) 1987A neutrino signal by means of a maximum-likelihood analysis. We focus on oscillations between $\overlineν_e$ with $\overlineν_μ$ or $\overlineν_τ$ with those mixing parameters that would solve the solar neutrino problem. For the small-angle MSW solution ($Δm^2\approx10^{-5}\,\rm eV^2$, $\sin^22Θ_0\approx0.007$), there are no significant oscillation effects on the Kelvin-Helmholtz cooling signal; we confirm previous best-fit values for the neutron-star binding energy and average spectral $\overlineν_e$ temperature. There is only marginal overlap between the upper end of the 95.4\% CL inferred range of $\langle E_{\overlineν_e}\rangle$ and the lower end of the range of theoretical predictions. Any admixture of the stiffer $\overlineν_μ$ spectrum by oscillations aggravates the conflict between experimentally inferred and theoretically predicted spectral properties. For mixing parameters in the neighborhood of the large-angle MSW solution ($Δm^2\approx10^{-5}\,\rm eV^2$, $\sin^22Θ_0\approx0.7$) the oscillations in the SN are adiabatic, but one needs to include the regeneration effect in the Earth which causes the Kamiokande and IMB detectors to observe different $\overlineν_e$ spectra. For the solar vacuum solution ($Δm^2\approx10^{-10}\,\rm eV^2$, $\sin^22Θ_0\approx1$) the oscillations in the SN are nonadiabatic; vacuum oscillations take place between the SN and the detector. If either of the large-angle solutions were borne out by the upcoming round of solar neutrino experiments, one would have to conclude that the SN~1987A $\overlineν_μ$ and/or $\overlineν_e$ spectra had been much softer than predicted by current

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Supernova Neutrino Scattering Rates Reduced by Nucleon Spin Fluctuations: Perturbative Limit

In a nuclear medium, spin-dependent forces cause the nucleon spins to fluctuate with a rate $Γ_σ$. We have previously shown that as a consequence the effective axial-current neutrino-nucleon scattering cross section is reduced. Here, we calculate this reduction explicitly in the perturbative limit $Γ_σ\ll T$. By virtue of an exact sum rule of the spin-density structure function, we express the modified cross section in terms of the matrix element for neutrino-nucleon scattering in the presence of a spin-dependent nuclear potential. This representation allows for a direct comparison with and confirmation of Sawyer's related perturbative result. In a supernova core with a typical temperature $T=10\,\rm MeV$, the perturbative limit is relevant for densities $ρ\alt10^{13}\,\rm g\,cm^{-3}$ and thus applies around the neutrino sphere. There, the cross-section reduction is of order a few percent and thus not large; however, a new mode of energy transfer between neutrinos and nucleons is enabled which may be important for neutrino spectra formation. We derive an analytic perturbative expression for the rate of energy transfer.

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Nucleon Spin Fluctuations and the Supernova Emission of Neutrinos and Axions

In the hot and dense medium of a supernova (SN) core, the nucleon spins fluctuate so fast that the axial-vector neutrino opacity and the axion emissivity are expected to be significantly modified. Axions with $m_a\alt10^{-2}\,{\rm eV}$ are not excluded by SN~1987A. A substantial transfer of energy in neutrino-nucleon ($νN$) collisions is enabled which may alter the spectra of SN neutrinos relative to calculations where energy-conserving $νN$ collisions had been assumed near the neutrinosphere.

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Can a mass inversion save solar neutrino oscillations from the Los Alamos neutrino?

In the light of the $ν_μ\toν_e$ neutrino oscillations which may have been observed at the LSND experiment we explore the consequences of two inverted mass schemes where solar neutrino oscillations occur between $ν_e$ and $ν_τ$. The favored LSND value $Δm^2=6\,\eV^2$ leads to $m_{ν_e}\approx m_{ν_τ}\approx 2.5\,\eV$ and $m_{ν_μ}\approx0$ so that cosmology can benefit from a recently proposed ``cold plus hot dark matter'' structure formation scenario with two equal mass light neutrinos (C$ν^2$DM). Solar neutrino oscillations ($ν_e\toν_τ$) can occur with one of the large mixing angle solutions so that a serious conflict with $ββ$ decay Majorana mass limits is avoided without invoking Dirac masses. However, there is a problem with the SN~1987A signal because of resonant $\antiν_e\leftrightarrow\antiν_μ$ oscillations which are expected to cause far higher $\antiν_e$ energies at the IMB and Kamiokande~II detectors than have been observed. A small value $Δm^2=0.5\,\eV^2$ at LSND, which allows for a relatively large $ν_e$-$ν_μ$ mixing angle without conflicting with the KARMEN and BNL-E776 experiments, would indicate $m_{ν_e}\approx m_{ν_τ}\approx 1.62\,\eV$ and $m_{ν_μ}\approx1.77\,\eV$. This scheme of C$ν^3$DM maintains, and even may improve, the essential cosmological model implications for large-scale structure, leaving no conflict with SN r-process nucleosynthesis. It may improve the discordance between the SN~1987A neutrino spectra inferred from Kamiokande~II and IMB.

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Red giant bound on the axion-electron coupling reexamined

If axions or other low-mass pseudoscalars couple to electrons (``fine structure constant'' $α_a$) they are emitted from red giant stars by the Compton process $γ+e\to e+a$ and by bremsstrahlung $e+(Z,A)\to (Z,A)+e+a$. We construct a simple analytic expression for the energy-loss rate for all conditions relevant for a red giant and include axion losses in evolutionary calculations from the main sequence to the helium flash. We find that $α_a\lapprox0.5\mn(-26)$ or $m_a\lapprox 9\,\meV/\cos^2β$ lest the red giant core at helium ignition exceed its standard mass by more than $0.025\,\MM_\odot$, in conflict with observational evidence. Our bound is the most restrictive limit on $α_a$, but it does not exclude the possibility that axion emission contributes significantly to the cooling of ZZ~Ceti stars such as G117--B15A for which the period decrease was recently measured.

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Standard and Non-Standard Plasma Neutrino Emission Revisited

On the basis of Braaten and Segel's representation of the electromagnetic dispersion relations in a QED plasma we check the numerical accuracy of several published analytic approximations to the plasma neutrino emission rates. As we find none of them satisfactory we derive a new analytic approximation which is accurate to within 4\%\ where the plasma process dominates. The correct emission rates in the parameter regime relevant for the red giant branch in globular clusters are larger by about $10-20$\% than those of previous stellar evolution calculations. Therefore, the core mass of red giants at the He flash is larger by about $0.005\M_\odot$ or 1\% than previously thought. Our bounds on neutrino magnetic dipole moments remain virtually unchanged.

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Neutrino Flavor Conversion in a Supernova Core

If $ν_μ$ or $ν_τ$ mix with $ν_e$, neutrino oscillations and collisions in a supernova (SN) core allow these flavors effectively to participate in $β$ equilibrium and thus to obtain a large chemical potential. If a sterile species mixes with $ν_e$, these effects lead to an anomalous loss of energy and lepton number. We study flavor conversion in a SN core on the basis of a new kinetic equation which rigorously includes neutrino interference and degeneneracy effects. Our discussion serves as an example and illustration of the properties of this ``non-abelian Boltzmann equation''.

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Non-Abelian Boltzmann Equation for Mixing and Decoherence

We consider particle oscillations and their damping in second-quantized form. We find that the damping or "decoherence" may be described by a Boltzmann-like collision integral with "non-abelian blocking factors" (fermions). Earlier results are generalized in that the momentum degrees of freedom are included and that the mixing equations become intrinsically non-linear at high densities.

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