Photon-pair conversion into neutrinos in a strong magnetic field

Abstract

A general analysis of the three-vertex loop amplitude in a strong magnetic field, based on the asymptotic form of the electron propagator in the field, is performed. In order to investigate the photon-neutrino process gamma gamma -> nu bar nu, the vertex combinations of the scalar-vector-vector (SVV), pseudoscalar-vector-vector (PVV), 3-vector (VVV), and axial-vector-vector-vector (AVV) types are considered. It is shown that only the SVV amplitude grows linearly with the magnetic field strength, while in the other amplitudes, PVV, VVV, and AVV, the linearly growing terms are cancelled. The process gamma gamma -> nu bar nu is investigated in the left-right-symmetric extension of the standard model of electroweak interaction, where the effective scalar nu nu e e coupling could exist. Possible astrophysical manifestations of the considered process are discussed.