Neutrino-pair bremsstrahlung from nucleon-$\alpha$ versus nucleon-nucleon scattering

Abstract

We study the impact of the nucleon-$\alpha$ P-wave resonances on neutrino-pair bremsstrahlung. Because of the non-central spin-orbit interaction, these resonances lead to an enhanced contribution to the nucleon spin structure factor for temperatures $T\lesssim 4$ MeV. If the $\alpha$-particle fraction is significant and the temperature is in this range, this contribution is competitive with neutron-neutron bremsstrahlung. This may be relevant for neutrino production in core-collapse supernovae or other dense astrophysical environments. Similar enhancements are expected for resonant non-central nucleon-nucleus interactions.

Comments: 6 pages, 4 figures