The pasta phase and its consequences on neutrino opacities

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nuclear pasta structures in stellar matter affect neutrino diffusion, revealing significant changes in opacities that impact supernova models and the evolution of protoneutron stars.

Contribution

It introduces calculations of neutrino diffusion coefficients considering nuclear pasta, highlighting their impact on neutrino mean free paths in stellar environments.

Findings

Nuclear pasta significantly alters neutrino mean free paths.

Differences in opacities influence supernova explosion simulations.

Results impact models of protoneutron star evolution.

Abstract

In this paper, we calculate the diffusion coefficients that are related to the neutrino opacities considering the formation of nuclear pasta and homogeneous matter at low densities. Our results show that the mean free paths are significantly altered by the presence of nuclear pasta in stellar matter when compared with the results obtained with homogeneous matter. These differences in neutrino opacities certainly influence the Kelvin-Helmholtz phase of protoneutron stars and consequently the results of supernova explosion simulations.