Weak response of neutron matter at low momentum transfer

Abstract

The Landau parameters obtained from the matrix elements of an effective interaction recently derived within the formalism of correlated basis functions are used to carry out a study of the weak response of neutron matter in the region of low momentum transfer. The proposed approach allows for a consistent description of different interaction effects and can be extended to describe matter at nonvanishing temperature. The results show that interactions lead to a sizable enhancement of the neutrino mean free path in cold neutron matter. The dependence of the mean free path on temperature and neutrino energy is also analyzed.