Aachen PK 2003 – scientific programme

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P: Plasmaphysik

P IX: HV IX

P IX.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 20, 2003, 10:30–11:00, FO1

Interaction of Intense Electron and Neutrino Beams with Plasmas — •Robert Bingham — Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 0QX

The interaction of intense electron and neutrino beams in dense astrophysical plasma is described. The relativistic kinetic treatment of the neutrino electroweak interaction is described by a finite temperature field theory. A more heuristic quasi - classical derivation, which makes comparisons with electron, neutrino and photon beam plasma interactions, is presented. Employing the relativistic kinetic equations for neutrinos interacting with a plasma via the weak interaction force, we explore the different collective plasma instabilities driven by neutrinos. We examine the anomalous energy transfer between the electron and neutrino beams and the background plasma via excitation of electron plasma waves (streaming instability), and the generation of quasi-static B fields (electroweak Weibel instability). The relativistic kinetic equations in the presence of a strong external magnetic field will be derived and the influence of the axial vector potential for neutrinos propagating in a magnetized plasma on these instabilities will be presented. The presence of the magnetic field gives rise to a new route for neutrino flavour oscillations as well a new force term that may be responsible for pulsar kicks. The relevance of the electroweak plasma instabilities for the extreme conditions occurring in the lepton era of the early universe, supernovae, and gamma ray bursters is pointed out. Finally, a comparison will be made with the physics of intense photon, electron and neutrino beam driven plasma waves.