Pairing effects on neutrino transport in low-density stellar matter

TL;DR

This paper studies how pairing correlations influence neutrino transport in low-density stellar matter, revealing that pairing increases neutrino trapping and affects neutron star cooling, especially near phase transitions.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamical approach to assess the impact of pairing correlations on neutrino scattering in nuclear matter with phase transitions and clustering.

Findings

Pairing correlations significantly affect neutrino scattering.

Neutrino trapping is increased by pairing effects.

Cooling mechanisms in neutron stars are modified.

Abstract

We investigate the impact of pairing correlations on neutrino transport in stellar matter. Our analysis is extended to nuclear matter conditions where large density fluctuations develop, associated with the onset of the liquid-vapor phase transition, and clustering phenomena occur. Within a thermodynamical treatment, we show that at moderate temperatures, where pairing effects are still active, the scattering of neutrinos in the nuclear medium is significantly affected by pairing correlations, which increase the neutrino trapping, thus modifying the cooling mechanism, by neutrino emission, of neutron stars.