On the resonant spin flavor precession of the neutrino in the sun

This work deals with the possible solution of the solar neutrino problem in the framework of the resonant neutrino spin-flavor precession scenario. The event rate results from the solar neutrino experiments as well as the recoil electron energy spectrum from SuperKamiokande are used to constrain the free parameters of the neutrino in this model (Δm² and μ_ν). We consider two kinds of magnetic profiles inside the sun. For both cases, a static and a twisting field are discussed.     

Dirac neutrino magnetic moment and possible time evolution of the neutrino signal from a supernova

We analyze the influence of neutrino helicity conversion, ν _L → ν _R, on the neutrino flux from a supernova attributable to the interaction of the Dirac neutrino magnetic moment with a magnetic field.We show that if the neutrino has a magnetic moment in the interval 10⁻¹³μ_B < μ_ν < 10⁻¹²μ_B and provided that a magnetic field of ∼10¹³–10¹⁴ G exists in the supernova envelope, a peculiar kind of time evolution of the neutrino signal from the supernova attributable to the resonance transition ν _L → ν _R in the magnetic field of the envelope can appear.     

Evidence for solar neutrino flux variability and its implications

Although KamLAND apparently rules out resonant-spin-flavor-precession (RSFP) as an explanation of the solar neutrino deficit, the solar neutrino fluxes in the Cl and Ga experiments appear to vary with solar rotation. Added to this evidence, summarized here, a power spectrum analysis of the Super-Kamiokande data reveals significant variation in the flux matching a dominant rotation rate observed in the solar magnetic field in the same time period. Three frequency peaks, all related to this rotation rate, can be explained quantitatively. A Super-Kamiokande paper reported no time variation of the flux, but showed the same peaks, there interpreted as statistically insignificant, due to an inappropriate analysis. This modulation is small (7%) in the Super-Kamiokande energy region (and below the sensitivity of the Super-Kamiokande analysis) and is consistent with RSFP as a subdominant neutrino process in the convection zone. The data display effects that correspond to solar-cycle changes in the magnetic field, typical of the convection zone. This subdominant process requires new physics: a large neutrino transition magnetic moment and a light sterile neutrino, since an effect of this amplitude occurring in the convection zone cannot be achieved with the three known neutrinos. It does, however, resolve current problems in providing fits to all experimental estimates of the mean neutrino flux, and is compatible with the extensive evidence for solar neutrino flux variability.     

Evidence for solar neutrino flux variability and its implications

Although KamLAND apparently rules out resonant-spin-flavor-precession (RSFP) as an explanation of the solar neutrino deficit, the solar neutrino fluxes in the Cl and Ga experiments appear to vary with solar rotation. Added to this evidence, summarized here, a power spectrum analysis of the Super-Kamiokande data reveals significant variation in the flux matching a dominant rotation rate observed in the solar magnetic field in the same time period. Three frequency peaks, all related to this rotation rate, can be explained quantitatively. A Super-Kamiokande paper reported no time variation of the flux, but showed the same peaks, there interpreted as statistically insignificant, due to an inappropriate analysis. This modulation is small (7%) in the Super-Kamiokande energy region (and below the sensitivity of the Super-Kamiokande analysis) and is consistent with RSFP as a subdominant neutrino process in the convection zone. The data display effects that correspond to solar-cycle changes in the magnetic field, typical of the convection zone. This subdominant process requires new physics: a large neutrino transition magnetic moment and a light sterile neutrino, since an effect of this amplitude occurring in the convection zone cannot be achieved with the three known neutrinos. It does, however, resolve current problems in providing fits to all experimental estimates of the mean neutrino flux, and is compatible with the extensive evidence for solar neutrino flux variability.     

The neutrino radiation of collapsing stellar cores and the neutrino burst detected from SN 1987 A

The properties of the neutrino burst generated by massive 1.5–2M collapsing stellar iron-oxygen cores are discussed. Special attention is given to the neutrino heat conductivity theory which allows us to calculate the transport of neutrinos through the collapsing stellar core up to the formation and during the first seconds of cooling of a hot hydrostatic neutron star. The theoretical predictions seem to be in good agreement with both the KAMIOKANDE II and IMB data on the neutrino burst detected from SN 1987A. The most reliable constraint on the neutrino rest mass is shown to bem _v <20–30eV, while the safest upper limit on the neutrino magnetic moment, µ _v < 10^–11 Bohr magnetons, results rather from the cooling of white dwarfs than from the SN 1987A neutrino data.Presented to the 13th International Conference Neutrino-88, Boston, U.S.A., 5–11 June, 1988.     

The neutrino in the primordial magnetic field

We discuss the evolution of the massive Dirac particle in the cosmic magnetic field. The magnetic field makes the space metric anisotropic. By solving the Dirac equation we obtain the apparent magnetic moment of the neutrino in the cosmic magnetic field.     

Systematics in the interpretation of aggregated neutrino flux limits and flavor ratios from gamma-ray bursts

Gamma-ray burst analyses at neutrino telescopes are typically based on diffuse or stacked (i.e., aggregated) neutrino fluxes, because the number of events expected from a single burst is small. The interpretation of aggregated flux limits implies new systematics not present for a single burst, such as by the integration over parameter distributions (diffuse fluxes), or by the low statistics in small burst samples (stacked fluxes). We simulate parameter distributions with a Monte Carlo method computing the spectra burst by burst, as compared to a conventional Monte Carlo integration. With this approach, we can predict the behavior of the flux in the diffuse limit as well as in low statistics stacking samples, such as used in recent IceCube data analyses. We also include the flavor composition at the detector (ratio between muon tracks and cascades) into our considerations. We demonstrate that the spectral features, such as a characteristic multi-peak structure coming from photohadronic interactions, flavor mixing, and magnetic field effects, are typically present even in diffuse neutrino fluxes if only the redshift distribution of the sources is considered, with z ? 1 dominating the neutrino flux. On the other hand, we show that variations of the Lorentz boost can only be interpreted in a model-dependent way, and can be used as a model discriminator. For example, we illustrate that the observation of spectral features in aggregated fluxes will disfavor the commonly used assumption that bursts with small Lorentz factors dominate the neutrino flux, whereas it will be consistent with the hypothesis that the bursts have similar properties in the comoving frame.     

Constraints of the neutrino magnetic moment from white dwarf cooling

The neutrino magnetic moment provides an additional energy emission in stars. It will accelerate the white dwarf cooling process and reduce the life time of the white dwarf, but it causes a conflict with the observation. We use observational constraints to derive an upper limit for the neutrino magnetic moment: 4.0×10^–12 _B      

A model independent approach to future solar neutrino experiments

We discuss here what model independent information about properties of neutrinos and of the sun can be obtained from future solar neutrino experiments (SNO, Super-Kamiokande). It is shown that in the general case of transitions of solar ν_e's into νμ and/or ντ the initial ⁸B neutrino flux can be measured by the observation of NC events. From the CC measurements the ν_e survival probability can be determined as a function of neutrino energy. The general case of transitions of solar ν_e's into active as well as sterile neutrinos is considered. A number of relations between measurable quantities the test of which will allow to answer the question whether there are sterile neutrinos in the solar neutrino flux on the earth are derived. Transitions of solar ν_e's into active and sterile states due to neutrino mixing and Dirac magnetic moments or into active left-handed neutrinos and active right-handed antineutrinos due to neutrino mixing and Majorana transition magnetic moments are also considered. It is shown that future solar neutrino experiments will allow to distinguish between the cases of Dirac and Majorana magnetic moments.     

Cosmological Constant, Minimal Mass and Electroweak Interaction

A lower bound for the mass of a rotating body is derived in the general relativity theory with positive cosmological term Λ. The bound suggests a neutrino rest mass ∼1 meV and a neutrino magnetic moment of 10⁻⁴¹ erg/gauss ∼ Planck's magnetic moment. A connection between gravity and electroweak interaction is suggested.     

On the homestake neutrino data

³⁷ Ar production rates from the Homestake experiment suggest a possible anticorrelation between solar neutrino flux and solar activity. In this paper we present results from linear correlation analyses between Homestake data and several solar activity parameters in the period 1970–1990. Our results support the hypothesis that Homestake neutrino fluxes exhibit a (positive or negative) correlation with those parameters, but they also suggest that the heliomagnetic field in the subphotosphere could be responsible for the observed flux modulation.     

An analysis of apparent r-mode oscillations in solar activity,the solar diameter,the solar neutrino flux,and nuclear decay rates,with implications concerning the Sun’s internal structure and rotation,and neutrino processes

This article presents a comparative analysis of solar activity data, Mt Wilson diameter data, Super-Kamiokande solar neutrino data, and nuclear decay data acquired at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (LMSU). We propose that salient periodicities in all of these datasets may be attributed to r-mode oscillations. Periodicities in the solar activity data and in Super-Kamiokande solar neutrino data may be attributed to r-mode oscillations in the known tachocline, with normalized radius in the range 0.66–0.74, where the sidereal rotation rate is in the range 13.7–14.6 year⁻¹. We propose that periodicities in the Mt Wilson and LMSU data may be attributed to similar r-mode oscillations where the sidereal rotation rate is approximately 12.0 year⁻¹, which we attribute to a hypothetical “inner” tachocline separating a slowly rotating core from the radiative zone. We also discuss the possible role of the Resonant Spin Flavor Precession (RSFP) process, which leads to estimates of the neutrino magnetic moment and of the magnetic field strength in or near the solar core.     

Collective neutrino-plasma interactions

Nonlinear processes describing the interaction of neutrinos with collective plasma oscillations and the excitation of plasma turbulence by a large neutrino flux is discussed. The excitation considered is the inverse processes of neutrino emission by plasma waves first considered by Tsytovich (V.N. Tsytovich, Soviet Fiz. Dokl. 9 (1965) 1114). The process is similar to a beam plasma instability considered as inverse Landau damping in which the usual electromagnetic interactions are important. In the neutrino beam relaxation the weak interaction can play a similar role. We emphasize here the possibility of another process namely the interaction of an intense neutrino flux with a strongly turbulent plasma. The turbulence can also be assumed to be due to the shock produced at the early stages of a type II supernova (SN) explosion. The scattering of the neutrinos in the turbulent plasma is shown to be sufficient for transferring momentum and energy from the neutrino flux to the plasma causing the shock to continue moving outward and eventually creating the blow-off of the mantle of the star producing type II SN.     

Reaction rates for neutrino processes

Some integrals involved in neutrino processes are evaluated by transformation to a special system of reference—usually to the center of mass system (CM). Rather simple analytic expressions are obtained for reaction rates and, though less simple, for moments. An interesting result thus obtained is for an isotropic interaction (in CM) of a neutrino with a monoenergetic isotropic gas of extreme relativistic electrons: it is found that the probability of the scattered neutrino to have energy in a certain range is independent of this energy.     

Photo-coulomb neutrino process

The photo-coulomb neutrino process has been considered in the electro-weak theory and the influence of this process to the evolution of stars has been outlined. The scattering cross-section of this process is calculated in both low and high energy limit. The neutrino mass has been taken into account in this calculation. In the low-energy limit the neutrino luminosity is computed in the temperature range 10⁸–10⁹ K and is also compared to the previous result obtained according to the current-current coupling theory. The process may be significant for the evolution of stars in the later phases.     

Possible indication for non-zero neutrino mass and additional neutrino species from cosmological observations

The constraints on total neutrino mass and effective number of neutrino species based on CMB anisotropy power spectrum, Hubble constant, baryon acoustic oscillations and galaxy cluster mass function data are presented. It is shown that discrepancies between various cosmological data in Hubble constant and density fluctuation amplitude, measured in standard ΛCDM cosmological model, can be eliminated if more than standard effective number of neutrino species and non-zero total neutrino mass are considered. This extension of ΛCDM model appears to be ≈3σ significant when all cosmological data are used. The model with approximately one additional neutrino type, N _eff ≈ 4, and with non-zero total neutrino mass, Σmν ≈ 0.5 eV, provide the best fit to the data. In the model with only one massive neutrino the upper limits on neutrino mass are slightly relaxed. It is shown that these deviations from ΛCDM model appearmainly due to the usage of recent data on the observations of baryon acoustic oscillations. The larger than standard number of neutrino species is measured mainly due to the comparison of the BAO data with direct measurements of Hubble constant, which was already noticed earlier. As it is shown below, the data on galaxy cluster mass function in this case give the measurement of non-zero neutrino mass.     

On the solar neutrino puzzle

Based on the available solar neutrino and helioseismic data a possible astrophysical solution of the solar neutrino problem is proposed. Forthcoming high and low energy neutrino measurements and helioseismic experiments will allow one to check the considered possibility.     

Irregular nebular variables and neutrino emission

The suggestion that the less massive star will reach the Main Sequence stage earlier than the massive star due to the effect of neutrino emission according to the photon-neutrino coupling theory is supported by the observed behaviour of H-R diagram of irregular nebular variables. After reaching the Main Sequence stage the star should pulsate with a period due to the effect of neutrino emission which may be a possible explanation of other properties of irregular nebular variables.     

The neutrino radiation for a hot neutron star formation and the envelope outburst problem

With the equations of neutrino heat conductivity being used, the neutrino light curve is calculated for the spherically symmetrical collapse of an iron-oxygen 2M star (Figure 1) up to the formation of a hot hydrostatically equilibrium neutron star. The total energy, radiated in the form of muon and electron neutrinos, is 5.8×10⁵³ erg (0.16Mc ²). The mean neutrino particle energy is 12 MeV for all the time the collapse proceeds. The maximum neutrino luminosity value is equal to 3×10⁵³ erg s^–1. For a 10M star collapse, the luminosity maximum 3×10⁵⁴ erg s^–1 takes place just at the moment of the formation of a black hole inside the collapsing star. The total radiated energy in this case is about 0.08Mc ². The set of calculations, allowing for the deposition of momentum by means of neutrino-nuclear coherent scattering, brings us to a conclusion that the envelope outburst is only possible if the scattering cross-section is 50 times larger than the value experimentally accepted (inequality 20)).     

Time-dependent neutrino transport out of dense stellar cores

Time-dependent neutrino transport out of an optically thick neutronized stellar core is calculated to study the effects of neutrino degeneracy and of source depletion. Neutrino trapping inhibits further neutrino emission until neutrinos peel out of the outer zones of the core, exposing successively inner zones. This inwardly propagating neutrino rarefaction wave can lead toe ^–+pv+n oscillations in chemical composition. The effect of neutrino Fermi statistics is to retard considrably and disperse neutrino leakage out of the core, making neutrino transport insignificant during fast stages of core collapse.Supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract EY-76-C-02-3071.