Speaker
Steven Harris
(Iowa State University)
Description
As the weak interaction involves only left-handed electrons, beta-equilibration in neutron stars can generate an imbalance between left- and right-handed electrons. This imbalance is counteracted by chirality-flipping Coulomb scattering of the electrons, which occurs in proportion to the mass of the electron. When two neutron stars collide, matter is pushed far out of beta equilibrium and matter is shock-heated to many tens of MeV. I will discuss the chiral imbalance generated in the hot, dense, out-of-beta-equilibrium environment of neutron stars mergers and the potential chiral plasma instability that may arise.
Author
Steven Harris
(Iowa State University)