Neutrino-Nucleon Interactions in Supernova: Hartree Response & Approximations

Abstract

Neutrino-nucleon interactions in hot and dense matter are the dominant opacity source for supernova neutrinos during the first hundred milliseconds to seconds post bounce. We compute the relativistic Hartree response of nucleons to weak probes and compare it to different approximations for neutrino opacities that are commonly used in supernova simulations, to understand the intrinsic accuracy of the latter.