Towards neutrino quantum kinetics in neutron star mergers
Sherwood Richers
UC Berkeley
Neutrino flavor transformation is expected to have significant impacts on the elements that form in the ejecta of a neutron star merger, complicating the story of the origin of the universe’s heavy elements. However, adequately modeling the transport of even flavor-static neutrinos in this relativistic and dynamical system is an unsolved problem. I will talk about some attempts to reconcile dynamical spacetime, a full set of realistic neutrino collisional processes, and rapid neutrino flavor transformation.
