Soft electroweak bremsstrahlung: Theorems and astrophysical relevance

Jun, 2002
15 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.C 65 (2002) 064007

Citations per year

20032008201320182021210
Abstract: (APS)
We analyze the structure of the amplitudes for electroweak bremsstrahlung in nucleon-nucleon collisions, for the charged (N+N→N+N+e−+ν¯e) and neutral (N+N→N+N+νf+ν¯f) weak current. Theorems are derived for the matrix elements of the vector and axial-vector currents in the soft regime. A comparison is made with previous work, usually performed in the nonrelativistic limit and by using a one-pion exchange two-nucleon interaction in Born approximation. Such approaches are argued to be unrealistic. This is explicitly shown for the neutrino-pair emission process in neutron-neutron scattering. Our results are relevant for calculations of neutrino emissivities in supernovae and in cooling scenarios of neutron stars.
  • 21.30.-x
  • 13.75.Cs
  • 13.10.+q
  • 26.60.+c
  • nucleon nucleon: exclusive reaction
  • charged current
  • neutral current
  • electroweak interaction: bremsstrahlung
  • current: vector
  • current: axial-vector