The mu and tau number of supernovae

C. J. Horowitz, Gang Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The neutrino-nucleon cross section is slightly larger than that for ν̄ - N. Therefore, ν̄ will escape more quickly from core collapse supernovae leaving the star ν rich. A diffusion formalism is used to calculate the time evolution of the mu and tau lepton number densities. These quickly reach steady state equilibria. We estimate that a protoneutron star with a maximum temperature near 50 MeV will contain over 50% more νμ and ντ than ν̄μ and ν̄τ. Supernovae may be the only known systems with large mu and or tau lepton numbers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)58-62
Number of pages5
JournalPhysics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
Volume443
Issue number1-4
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Dec 1998
Externally publishedYes

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