Solar neutrinos, helicity effects and new affine gravity with torsion

• Published in: Astroparticle physics 2013-12, Vol.50-52, p.51-56
• Main Author: Cirilo-Lombardo, Diego Julio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Gravitation; Neutrinos; Torsion fields
• ISSN: 0927-6505; 1873-2852
• DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2013.09.008

•The probability of the neutrino spin flip in the context of a new f(R,T) model is explicitly computed.•The cross section of this process has logarithmic energy dependence (even at high energies).•The results are applied to the solar neutrino case and compared with string theory and the standard model.•Implicancies of the IceCube new data with respect to our results, are given. New f(R,T) model of gravitation, introduced previously by the author, is considered. It is based on an affine geometrical construction in which the torsion is a dynamical field, the coupling is minimal and the theory is Lorentz invariant by construction. It was shown that the Dirac equation emerges from the same space time and acquires a modification (coupling-like) of the form γαj1-ddγ5hα, with hα the torsion axial vector, j a parameter of pure geometrical nature and d, the spacetime dimension. In the present work it is shown that this interaction produces a mechanism of spin (helicity) flipping, with its consequent weak symmetry violation. The cross section of this process is explicitly calculated and a logarithmic energy dependence (even at high energies) is found. This behavior is reminiscent of similar computations made by Hans Bethe in the context of neutrino astrophysics. These results are applied to the solar neutrino case and compared with similar results coming from a gravitational model with torsion of string theory type and within the standard model context respectively.