Spin oscillations of neutrinos scattered by the supermassive black hole in the galactic center

TL;DR

This paper investigates how neutrino spin oscillations occur when neutrinos scatter off a supermassive black hole with an accretion disk, considering external magnetic and electroweak fields, and analyzes potential observational implications.

Contribution

It provides a semi-analytical model of neutrino spin oscillations in the curved spacetime around a rotating SMBH with an accretion disk, including arbitrary incident angles.

Findings

Neutrino spin precession depends on magnetic field interactions.

The model accounts for co-rotating and counter-rotating disks.

Results have implications for astrophysical neutrino observations.

Abstract

In this work, we study the propagation and spin oscillations of neutrinos in their scattering by a supermassive black hole (SMBH) surrounded by a realistic accretion disk. We review various descriptions of the fermion spin evolution in a curved spacetime under the influence of external fields. The overview of the test particle motion in the gravitational field of a rotating SMBH is also present. The external fields which a neutrino spin interacts with are the electroweak forces in plasma and the toroidal magnetic field in the accretion disk surrounding SMBH. Spin precession of neutrinos, which are supposed to be Dirac particles, is caused by the interaction of the neutrino magnetic moment with the magnetic field in the disk. We use a semi-analytical model of a thick accretion disk and review its characteristics. The cases of co-rotating and counter-rotating disks with respect to BH are discussed. We consider the incoming flux of neutrinos having an arbitrary angle with respect to the BH spin since the recent results of the Event Horizon Telescope indicate that the BH spin in the galactic center is not always perpendicular to the galactic plane. For our study, we consider a large number of incoming test neutrinos. We briefly discuss our results and their applications in the observations of astrophysical neutrinos.