Neutrino bremsstrahlung process in highly degenerate magnetized electron gas

Abstract

In this paper the neutrino bremsstrahlung process is considered in the presence of a strong magnetic field, though the calculations for this process in the absence of a magnetic field are also carried out simultaneously. The electrons involved in this process are supposed to be highly degenerate and relativistic. The scattering cross sections and energy-loss rates for both cases, in the presence and absence of a magnetic field, are calculated in the extreme relativistic limit. Two results are compared in the range of temperature 5.9 × 109 K <T ⩽ 1011 K and the magnetic field 1014–1016 G at a fixed density ∼1015 g cm−3, a typical environment during the cooling of a magnetized neutron star. The interpretation of our result is briefly discussed and the importance of this process during stellar evolution is speculated.