Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T09:15:28.829Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Neutrino Content of Elliptical Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

B. M. Lewis*
Affiliation:
Carter Observatory, Wellington

Extract

Current results from the experiment by Reines et al (1980) on the oscillation of neutrinos from one flavour to another, if confirmed, require a non-zero rest-mass for the neutrino. Corroborative evidence can be adduced from the astrophysical consequences. In particular, the long-standing ‘missing light’ paradox in rich clusters of galaxies is solved (c.f. Cowsik and McClelland 1973), and more recent difficulties in reconciling the chronology of the Universe with both the primordial abundance of He4 and the cosmological mass density are eased (c.f. Symbalisty et al 1980). Finally Lewis (1981) shows that the concept also solves the problem of obtaining dynamically relaxed clusters of galaxies with feasable formation times. As a result, elliptical galaxies are necessarily formed from the material of a proto-cluster amid a high density of low-velocity neutrinos. This paper makes a preliminary estimate of the maximum neutrino content of elliptical galaxies.

Type
Contributions
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chandrasekhar, S., An Introduction to the study of Stellar Structure, Chap XI (University of Chicago, 1939).Google Scholar
Cowsik, R., and McClelland, J., Astrophys. J., 180, 7 (1973).Google Scholar
Faber, S. M., and Jackson, R. E., Astrophys. J., 204, 668 (1976).Google Scholar
King, I. R., Astron. J., 71, 64 (1966).Google Scholar
King, I. R., Astrophys. J., 222, 1 (1978).Google Scholar
Lewis, B. M., Proc. Astron. Soc. Aust., 4, (1981).Google Scholar
Rees, M., Observatory, 98, 210 (1978).Google Scholar
Reines, F., Sobel, H. N., and Pasierb, E., Phys. Rev. Lett., 45, 1307 (1980).Google Scholar
Sargent, W. L. W. (Young, P. J., Boksenberg, A., Shortridge, K., Lynds, C. R., and Hartwick, F. D. A., Astrophys. J., 221, 731 (1978).Google Scholar
Schramm, D. N., and Steigmann, G., Gravity Research Foundation, prize essay (1980).Google Scholar
Symbalisty, E. M. D., Yang, J., and Schramm, D. N., Nature, 288, 143 (1980).Google Scholar
Young, P. J., Westphal, J. A., Kristian, J., Wilson, C. P., and Landauer, F. P., Astrophys. J., 221, 721 (1978).CrossRefGoogle Scholar