Abstract
The massive Dirac-type neutrinos, which can display superfluidity, the analogue of superconductivity for electrically neutral particles, were analyzed. The Cooper pairs were formed by attractive scalar Higgs boson exchange between left and right-handed neutrinos; in the standard SU(2) x U(1) theory, right-handed neutrinos do not couple to any other boson. The value of the gap, the critical temperature and th Pippard coherence length were calculated for arbitrary values of the neutrino mass and chemical potential. It was suggested that if the neutrino coupled to a much lighter scalar boson than the Higgs or if a much heavier neutrino exists, then neutrino superfluidity could conceivably be realized in nature.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 251801 |
Journal | Physical review letters |
Volume | 93 |
Issue number | 25 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 17 2004 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:I am grateful to P. J. Ellis, Y.-Z. Qian, K. Rajagopal, I. Shovkovy, and A. Steiner for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FG02-87ER40328.