1996/12/31 by Ara Ioannisian, Ara N. Ioannisian, Georg G. Raffelt · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Cherenkov radiation #Graph #Magnetic field #Massless particle #Neutrino #Neutrino Physics Research #Nuclear physics #Omega #Optics #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Photon #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Vertex (graph theory) #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.55.7038
published as Phys. Rev. D 55, 7038 (1997) · 6 pages, REVTEX. Factor of 2 correction of final result. Reference updates. To be published in Physical Review D
arxiv created 1997/03/18 · openalex publication_date 1997/06/01 · arxiv updated 2016/08/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We calculate the Cherenkov process \ensuremathν\ensuremath→\ensuremathν\ensuremathγ in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field. The neutrinos are taken to be massless with only standard-model couplings. The magnetic field satisfies the dual purpose of inducing an effective neutrino-photon vertex and of modifying the photon dispersion relation such that the Cherenkov condition \ensuremathω<|k| is satisfied. Our effect is closely related to photon splitting that occurs in magnetic fields and that may be astrophysically important in the strong magnetic fields of pulsars. It is also closely related to magnetic-field enhanced radiative decays \ensuremathν\ensuremath→\ensuremathν^\ensuremath'\ensuremathγ that have been extensively discussed in the recent literature. In the appropriate limits we agree with these results, but we disagree with earlier explicit calculations of the Cherenkov process. For a field strength Bcrit=me2/e=4.41\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi1013 G and for E=2me the Cherenkov rate is about 6\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10^\ensuremath-11 s^\ensuremath-1 and thus too small to be of practical importance for pulsar physics.