Particle Physics in Media

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

Neutrinos play an important role in many astrophysical scenarios. Neutrino transport and dynamics is important in understanding supernova explosions as well as the behavior of accretion discs which surround black wholes. This proposal looks at how neutrinos behave when they are interacting in the presence of a dense media. The PI proposes to investigate two main topics: (i) the physics of neutrino flavor evolution in dense neutrino systems and (ii) the physics of neutrino transport in accretion disks around black holes. The PI has discovered the importance of flavor exchange forward scattering processes in the presence of correlations of velocity and flavor distribution which can significantly speed up flavor exchange in supernova simulations. The PI intends to calculate the effects his new ideas about the physics of neutrino scattering on supernova theory. The PI will also investigate how neutrino physics affects hyper accreting disks in situations where Black wholes are gobbling up remnants of stars.