Impact of medium modification of the nucleon weak and electromagnetic form factors on the neutrino mean free path in dense matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how in-medium modifications of nucleon form factors affect neutrino interactions in dense matter, finding that such modifications increase the neutrino mean free path and could influence neutron star cooling.

Contribution

It introduces a combined approach using relativistic mean field and quark-meson coupling models to assess medium effects on nucleon form factors and neutrino mean free paths.

Findings

Neutrino scattering cross sections decrease with medium modifications.

Neutrino mean free path increases by 10-40% due to form factor changes.

Enhanced mean free path may accelerate neutron star cooling.

Abstract

Impact of the in-medium modified nucleon weak and electromagnetic form factors on the neutrino mean free path in dense matter is studied by considering both the weak and electromagnetic interactions of neutrinos with the constituents of the matter. A relativistic mean field model and the quark-meson coupling model are respectively adopted for the in-medium effective nucleon mass and nucleon form factors. We find that the cross sections of neutrino scattering in cold nuclear medium decreases when the in-medium modification of the nucleon weak and electromagnetic form factors are taken into account. This reduction results in the enhancement of the neutrino mean free path, in particular at the baryon density of around a few times of the normal nuclear matter density. The enhancement of the neutrino mean free path is estimated to be about 10--40\% compared with the values obtained without the medium modification of the nucleon form factors, and the enhancement is expected to accelerate the cooling of neutron stars.