Gradient-Produced Neutrinos
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
2026-04-27 v1 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Nuclear Theory
Abstract
Sufficiently strong electric fields can produce charged-particle pairs via the Schwinger effect. We argue that steep matter-density gradients, as can arise in neutron star interiors, would analogously produce neutrino-antineutrino pairs. We then discuss observational signatures of these gradient-produced (anti)neutrinos and how they could provide new probes of neutron-star structure and baryon-dense QCD.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.21968,
title = {Gradient-Produced Neutrinos},
author = {Erwin H. Tanin and Yikun Wang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.21968},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
6+18 pages, 5 figures