Albertus Torres, ConradoMasip, M.Pérez García, M. A.2016-05-052016-05-052015Albertus Torres, C., Masip, M., Pérez García, M.A.: "Production of unstable heavy neutrinos in proto-neutron stars". Physics Letters B. Vol. 751, págs. 209-214, (2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2015.10.0260370-26931873-2445 (electrónico)http://hdl.handle.net/10272/12063We discuss the production of a class of heavy sterile neutrinos νhνh in proto-neutron stars. The neutrinos, of mass around 50 MeV50 MeV, have a negligible mixing with the active species but relatively large dimension-5 electromagnetic couplings. In particular, a magnetic dipole moment μ≈10−6 GeV−1μ≈10−6 GeV−1 implies that they are thermally produced through View the MathML sourcee+e−→ν¯hνh in the early phase of the core collapse, whereas a heavy–light transition moment μtr≈10−8 GeV−1μtr≈10−8 GeV−1 allows their decay νh→νiγνh→νiγ with a lifetime around 10−3 s10−3 s. This type of electromagnetic couplings has been recently proposed to explain the excess of electron-like events in baseline experiments. We show that the production and decay of these heavy neutrinos would transport energy from the central regions of the star to distances d≈400 kmd≈400 km, providing a very efficient mechanism to enhance the supernova shock front and heat the material behind it.engAtribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/journal article10.1016/j.physletb.2015.10.026open access