Fermion nonminimal gravitational coupling and the solar-neutrino problem

Journal Article · Tue May 15 04:00:00 EDT 1979 · AIP (Am. Inst. Phys.) Conf. Proc.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.31800· OSTI ID:6154708

Leiter, D

In this work, a universal magnetic-dipole interaction between massive fermions is considered, with the coupling mediated by the local spacetime curvature. The strong principle of equivalence is not valid for fermions because of their intrinsic spin. Hence, the associated principle of ''minimal gravitational coupling'' for the Dirac equation coupled to electromagnetic fields in the presence of gravity is an assumption which is unsupported by either theory or experiment. We show that relaxing the arbitrary minimal-coupling constraint leads to a simple kind of nonminimal gravitational coupling (NMGC) which can generate curvature-dependent magnetic-moment effects, in background gravitational fields, for fermions coupled electromagnetically. Application of this model to the case of solar neutrinos yields a simple explanation of the low terrestrial neutrino flux in terms of sufficient neutrino energy loss (via multiple neutrino-electron magnetic elastic scattering in the solar plasma) to account for the very low detection rate on earth. Terrestrial tests of this type of NMGC effect for neutrinos would appear in high-energy neutrino-nucleon scattering, in terms of anomalous (charge-dependent) neutrino-deuteron interactions, which could not be explained by charge-indenpendent neutral-current models alone.

• Research Organization: Physics Department, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
• OSTI ID: 6154708
• Report Number(s): CONF-780498-
• Journal Information: AIP (Am. Inst. Phys.) Conf. Proc.; (United States), Journal Name: AIP (Am. Inst. Phys.) Conf. Proc.; (United States) Vol. 52; ISSN APCPC
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DIPOLES
DIRAC EQUATION
ELASTIC SCATTERING
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EQUATIONS
EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
FERMIONS
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
INTERACTIONS
LEPTON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
LEPTON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
LEPTON-LEPTON INTERACTIONS
LEPTONS
MAGNETIC DIPOLES
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MULTIPOLES
NEUTRINO-DEUTERON INTERACTIONS
NEUTRINO-ELECTRON INTERACTIONS
NEUTRINOS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
RADIATIONS
SCATTERING
SOLAR NEUTRINOS
SOLAR RADIATION
SPACE-TIME
WAVE EQUATIONS