Abstract
The wrong-helicity states of a Dirac neutrino can provide an important cooling mechanism for young neutron stars. Based on numerical models of the early cooling of the neutron start associated with SN 1987A which self-consistently incorporate wrong-helicity neutrino emission, we argue that a Dirac neutrino of mass greater than 30 keV (25 keV if it is degenerate) leads to shortening of the neutrino burst that is inconsistent with the Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven and Kamiokande II data. If pions are as abundant as nucleons in the cores of neutron stars, our limit improves to 15 keV.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3834-3837 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue number | 26 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1992 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Physics and Astronomy