Neutron star kick velocity induced by neutrino chirality flip and a lower bound for the neutrino magnetic moment

Abstract

We study the neutrino chirality flip during the birth of a neutron star, produced in a core made of strange quark matter. This mechanism is applied to the neutron star kick velocity problem and we show that it is efficient when the neutrino magnetic moment is not smaller than 4.7 × 10 −15 B , where B is the Bohr magneton. When this lower bound is combined with the most stringent upper bound, our results set a range for the neutrino magnetic moment given by 4.7 × 10 −15 ≤ / B ≤ (0.1 − 0.4) × 10 −11. The obtained kick velocities for natal conditions are consistent with the observed ones and span the correct range of radii for typical magnetic field intensities.