Pulsar kicks and dark matter from a sterile neutrino
Astrophysics
2009-11-10 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
The observed velocities of radio pulsars, which range in the hundreds kilometers per second, and many of which exceed 1000 km/s, are not explained by the standard physics of the supernova explosion. However, if a sterile neutrino with mass in the 1-20 keV range exists, it would be emitted asymmetrically from a cooling neutron star, which could give it a sufficient recoil to explain the pulsar motions. The same particle can be the cosmological dark mater. Future observations of X-ray telescopes and gravitational wave detectors can confirm or rule out this explanation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0404483,
title = {Pulsar kicks and dark matter from a sterile neutrino},
author = {Alexander Kusenko},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0404483},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 1 figure; invited talk at the Coral Gables Conference (CG2003), Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, December 17-21, 2003