Neutrino Trapping in a Supernova and Ion Screening

Abstract

Neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering is reduced in dense matter because of correlations between ions. The static structure factor for a plasma of electrons and ions is calculated from Monte Carlo simulations and parameterized with a least squares fit. Our results imply a large increase in the neutrino mean free path. This strongly limits the trapping of neutrinos in a supernova by coherent neutral current interactions.

Comments: 9 pages, 1 postscript figure using epsf.sty