English

The coherent weak charge of matter

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2017-12-05 v1

Abstract

We study the long-range force arising between two aggregates of ordinary matter due to a neutrino-pair exchange, in the limit of zero neutrino mass. Even if matter is neutral of electric charge, it is charged for this weak force. The interaction is described in terms of a coherent charge, which we call the weak flavor charge of aggregated matter. For each one of the interacting aggregates, this charge depends on the neutrino flavor as QWνe=2ZNQ_W^{\nu_e} = 2Z-N, QWνμ=QWντ=NQ_W^{\nu_\mu} = Q_W^{\nu_\tau} = -N, where ZZ is the number of protons and NN the number of neutrons. QWνeQ_W^{\nu_e} depends explicitly on ZZ because of the charged current contribution to νee\nu_e e elastic scattering, while the NN term in the three charges comes from the universal neutral current contribution. The effective potential describing this force is repulsive and decreases as r5r^{-5}. Due to its specific behavior on (Z,N)(Z,N) and rr, this interaction is distinguishable from both gravitation and residual electromagnetic forces. As neutrinos are massive and mixed, this potential is valid for r1/mνr\lesssim 1/m_\nu, distances beyond which a Yukawa-like attenuation kicks in.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1712.01049,
  title  = {The coherent weak charge of matter},
  author = {Alejandro Segarra},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.01049},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

3 pages, 2 figures, conference paper from 18th Lomonosov