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2 years ago in Astrophysics , Particle Physics By Aamir

What changes do neutrinos effect when they pass from place to place?

In my astrophysics work, we treat neutrinos as nearly non-interacting messengers. But they must have some infinitesimal effect on the interstellar and intergalactic medium. Beyond the rare direct detection event, what quantifiable perturbations however tiny do they impart on matter via weak force or gravitational interactions during their journey?

 

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By Keerthi Gupta Answered 2 years ago

From my experience in phenomenology, the primary effect is through the weak neutral current. As a neutrino passes, there is a vanishingly small but non-zero probability it will scatter elastically off an atomic nucleus or electron via Z-boson exchange. This imparts a tiny recoil momentum. In incredibly dense media like a supernova core, this contributes to pressure and cooling. For interstellar travel, the effect is negligible for individual particles, but collectively, the neutrino background contributes a minuscule, stochastic heating to plasma a detail we must model in precision cosmology.

 

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