TeV mu Neutrinos from Young Neutron Stars


Abstract in English

Neutron stars are efficient accelerators for bringing charges up to relativistic energies. We show that if positive ions are accelerated to ~1 PeV near the surface of a young neutron star (t_age < about 10^5 yr), protons interacting with the stars radiation field will produce beamed mu neutrinos with energies of ~50 TeV that could produce the brightest neutrino sources at these energies yet proposed. These neutrinos would be coincident with the radio beam, so that if the star is detected as a radio pulsar, the neutrino beam will sweep the Earth; the star would be a ``neutrino pulsar. Looking for muon neutrino emission from young neutron stars will provide a valuable probe of the energetics of the neutron star magnetosphere.

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