Modulational instabilities in neutrino--anti-neutrino interactions

Abstract

We analyze the collective behavior of neutrinos and antineutrinos in a dense background. Using the Wigner transform technique, it is shown that the interaction can be modelled by a coupled system of nonlinear Vlasov-like equations. From these equations, we derive a dispersion relation for neutrino-antineutrino interactions on a general background. The dispersion relation admits a novel modulational instability. The results are examined, together with a numerical example, and we discuss the induced density inhomogeneities using parameters relevant to the early Universe.