Bremsstrahlung neutrinos from electron-electron scattering in a relativistic degenerate electron plasma

Abstract

We present a calculation of neutrino pair bremsstrahlung due to electron-electron scattering in a relativistic degenerate plasma of electrons. Proper treatment of the in-medium photon propagator, i.e., inclusion of Debye screening of the longitudinal part and Landau damping of the transverse part, leads to a neutrino emissivity which is several orders of magnitude larger than when Debye screening is imposed for the tranverse part. Our results show that this in-medium process can compete with other sources of neutrino radiation and can, in some cases, even be the dominant neutrino emission mechanism. We also discuss the natural extension to quark-quark bremsstrahlung in gapped and ungapped quark matter.