The neutrino emission due to plasmon decay and neutrino luminosity of white dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper provides numerical calculations and analytical approximations of neutrino emission from plasmon decay in white dwarfs, covering a wide range of conditions, and assesses its significance in white dwarf cooling.

Contribution

It introduces new numerical and analytical models for neutrino emissivity and luminosity due to plasmon decay in white dwarfs across various temperatures and densities.

Findings

Neutrino luminosity depends mainly on the parameter mu_e.

Plasmon decay is the dominant neutrino cooling mechanism in white dwarfs.

Analytical expressions accurately approximate numerical results.

Abstract

One of the effective mechanisms of neutrino energy losses in red giants, presupernovae and in the cores of white dwarfs is the emission of neutrino-antineutrino pairs in the process of plasmon decay. In this paper, we numerically calculate the emissivity due to plasmon decay in a wide range of temperatures (10^7-10^11) K and densities (200-10^14) g cm^-3. Numerical results are approximated by convenient analytical expressions. We also calculate and approximate by analytical expressions the neutrino luminosity of white dwarfs due to plasmon decay, as a function of their mass and internal temperature. This neutrino luminosity depends on the chemical composition of white dwarfs only through the parameter mu_e (the net number of baryons per electron) and is the dominant neutrino luminosity in all white dwarfs at the neutrino cooling stage.