The action of neutrino ponderomotive force on supernova dynamics

Abstract

Collective interactions of a beam of neutrinos/antineutrinos traversing a dense magnetized plasma of electrons/positrons, protons and neutrons are studied with particular reference to the case of a Supernova. We find that the ponderomotive force exerted by neutrinos gives, contrary to expectations, a negligible contribution to the revival of the shock for a successful Supernova explosion, although new types of convection and plasma cooling processes induced by the ponderomotive force could be, in principle, relevant for the dynamics itself.