Neutrino-electron magnetohydrodynamics in an expanding Universe

Journal article

We derive a new model for neutrino-plasma interactions in an expanding universe that incorporates the collective effects of the neutrinos on the plasma constituents. We start from the kinetic description of a multi-species plasma in the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric, where the particles are coupled to neutrinos through the charged- and neutral-current forms of the weak interaction. We then derive the fluid equations and specialize our model to (a) the lepton epoch, where we consider a pair electron-positron plasma interacting with electron (anti-)neutrinos, and (b) after the electron-positron annihilation, where we model an electron-proton plasma and take the limit of slow ions and inertia-less electrons to obtain a set of neutrino-electron magnetohydrodynamics (NEMHD) equations. In both models, the dynamics of the plasma is affected by the neutrino motion through a ponderomotive force and, as a result, new terms appear in the induction equation that can act as a source for magnetic field generation in the early universe. A brief discussion on the possible applications of our model is proposed.

Authors: Perrone, LM; Gregori, G; Reville, B; Silva, LO; Bingham, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Journal: Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
• Volume: 104
• Issue: 12
• Article number: 123013
• Publication date: 2021-12-03
• Acceptance date: 2021-10-11
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.104.123013
• EISSN: 2470-0029
• ISSN: 2470-0010
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR