Cherenkov radiation by massless neutrinos

Abstract

Due to their weak interactions, neutrinos can polarize a medium and acquire an induced charge. We consider the Cherenkov radiation emitted by neutrinos due to their effective electromagnetic interactions as they pass through a polarizable medium. The effect exists even for massless, chiral neutrinos, where no physics beyond the standard model needs to be assumed.

Comments: 11 pages Latex file; to appear in Phys. Lett. B