Neutrino diffusion in the pasta phase matter within the Thomas-Fermi approach

TL;DR

This paper investigates neutrino interactions within nuclear pasta phases in neutron star matter using the Thomas-Fermi approximation, providing insights into neutrino diffusion post-supernova.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed modeling of neutrino cross-sections and mean free paths in pasta phase matter using the Thomas-Fermi approach with different nuclear interaction parametrizations.

Findings

Calculated neutrino cross-sections and mean free paths in pasta phases.

Compared effects of different nuclear interaction models on neutrino properties.

Provided data relevant for neutron star cooling and supernova modeling.

Abstract

The behavior and properties of neutrinos in non-uniform nuclear matter, surrounded by electrons and other neutrinos are studied. The nuclear matter itself is modeled by the non-linear Walecka model, where the so-called nuclear pasta phase is described using the Thomas-Fermi approximation, solved in a Wigner-Seitz cell. We obtain the total cross-section and mean-free path for the neutrinos, taking into account scattering and neutrino absorption, and compare the final results for two known kind of model parametrizations: one in which non-linear effects in the strong sector are explicitly written in the model Lagrangian and another one in which the coupling constants are density dependent. The solution for this problem is important for the understanding of neutrino diffusion in a newly born neutron star after a supernova explosion.