Parity nonconservation and stellar collapse
ACCORDING to the current theory, the evolution of sufficiently massive stars leads eventually to gravitational instability and collapse. After thermonuclear burning has stopped, dense stellar cores become unstable and collapse to form neutron stars (pulsars) or black holes. In both cases energy of the order of 0.1 Mc2 is released, mostly in the form of neutrinos and gravitational waves. As the radius of the core decreases, its magnetic field grows (magnetic flux is conserved) and can reach huge values of order 1012–1013 G. Even greater azimuthal fields (∼3 × 1015 G) can be generated by differential rotation of the core1. It will be shown here that neutrino emission in the collapse is asymmetric, as a result of parity nonconservation in weak interactions. Neutrinos and antineutrinos are emitted preferentially in the direction parallel to the local magnetic field of the collapsing core.
Nuclear β decay with massive neutrino in an external electromagnetic field
beta decay in the presence of an external electromagnetic field is investigated, taking into account the non-zero neutrino rest mass. The spectrum of electrons and polarisation effects of different orientations of nuclear spin are considered. It is shown that the electromagnetic wave substantially modifies the boundaries of the spectrum of beta electrons. The results, which include an analysis of the total decay probability in intense magnetic fields, may have various astrophysical implications.
The collapse of iron-oxygen stars: Physical and mathematical formulation of the problem and computational method
A statement of the problem of gravitational collapse and a computational method are described. The main feature of the collapse — its extremely high heterogeneity — is taken into account. The structure of a collapsing star is characterized by a dense and hot nucleon core which is opaque with respect to neutrino radiation and is embedded in to and extended envelope, almost transparent to neutrinos. The envelope is gradually being accreted onto the core. The enormous amount of energy, radiated in the form of neutrinos and antineutrinos, make us pay particular attention to relatively small absorption of neutrino radiation by extended envelope (so-called energy of deposition). The inclusion of the energy deposition in the calculations is of importance for the problem of transformation of an implosion into an explosion. The deposition is taken into consideration in the approximation of diluted neutrino radiation which escapes from neutrino photosphere and is partially absorbed in the envelope. Both the generation of energy due to deposition and the change of neutronto-proton ratio are taken into account. The increase of the mass of the core, which is opaque with respect to neutrino radiation, is fully taken into account in the calculations of the gravitational collapse.