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    Ghost particles may secretly decide the fate of collapsing stars

    July 30, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Physics

    illustration of blue
    Left Panel: When neutrinos scatter with themselves via standard model interactions the collapsing core of the massive star is relatively cold, and the neutrinos are mostly all electron flavor. In this scenario we may get a supernova explosion leaving, usually, a neutron star remnant
    Right Panel: If neutrinos have “secret” interactions with themselves, then electron neutrinos can be converted to all flavors. This leads to rapid heating, the “melting” of nuclei, and the rapid conversion of most protons to neutrons. We might get a black hole instead of a neutron star remnant. It is not yet clear if we get a supernova explosion.
    (cr: George Fuller lab / UC San Diego)

    Neutrinos are cosmic tricksters, paradoxically hardly there but lethal to stars significantly more massive than the sun...

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