Parity Violation in Neutrino Transport and the Origin of Pulsar Kicks

Abstract

In proto-neutron stars with strong magnetic fields, the neutrino-nucleon scattering/absorption cross sections depend on the direction of neutrino momentum with respect to the magnetic field axis, a manifestation of parity violation in weak interactions. We study the deleptonization and thermal cooling (via neutrino emission) of proto-neutron stars in the presence of such asymmetric neutrino opacities. Significant asymmetry in neutrino emission is obtained due to multiple neutrino-nucleon scatterings. For an ordered magnetic field threading the neutron star interior, the fractional asymmetry in neutrino emission is about $0.006 (B/10^{14}G)$, corresponding to a pulsar kick velocity of about $200 (B/10^{14}G)$ km/s for a total radiated neutrino energy of $3\times 10^{53}$ erg.