Magnetic neutrino scattering on atomic electrons revisited

Abstract

We reexamine the role of electron binding effects in the inelastic neutrino-atom scattering induced by the neutrino magnetic moment. The differential cross section of the process is presented as a sum of the longitudinal and transverse components, according to whether the force that the neutrino magnetic moment exerts on electrons is parallel or perpendicular to momentum transfer. The atomic electrons are treated nonrelativistically. On this basis, the recent theoretical predictions concerning the magnetic neutrino-impact ionization of atoms are critically discussed. Numerical calculations are performed for ionization of a hydrogenlike Ge$^{+31}$ ion by neutrino impact.