Neutrino propagation in a medium with a magnetic field

Abstract

We study the properties of neutrinos propagating in an isotropic magnetized medium in the two physical approximations of degenerate Fermi gas and classical plasma. The dispersion relation shows that, for peculiar configurations of the magnetic field, neutrinos can propagate freely as in vacuum, also for very large density; this result can be very important in the study of supernova evolution. For mixed neutrinos, the presence of a magnetic field can alter significatively MSW oscillations, and for particular configurations of the field the resonance condition no longer occurs. Furthermore, on the contrary to that happens in non-magnetized media, spatial dispersion arises and neutrino trajectory can be in principle deviated; however a simple estimate shows that this deviation is not detectable.