TeV mu Neutrinos from Young Neutron Stars

Abstract

Neutron stars are efficient accelerators for bringing charges up to relativistic energies. We show that if positive ions are accelerated to ~1 PeV near the surface of a young neutron star (t_age < about 10^5 yr), protons interacting with the star's radiation field will produce beamed mu neutrinos with energies of ~50 TeV that could produce the brightest neutrino sources at these energies yet proposed. These neutrinos would be coincident with the radio beam, so that if the star is detected as a radio pulsar, the neutrino beam will sweep the Earth; the star would be a ``neutrino pulsar''. Looking for muon neutrino emission from young neutron stars will provide a valuable probe of the energetics of the neutron star magnetosphere.

4 pages. Editorial changes and typos corrected