Standard and Non-Standard Plasma Neutrino Emission Revisited

On the basis of Braaten and Segel’s representation of the electromagnetic dispersion relations in a QED plasma we check the numerical accuracy of several published analytic approximations to the plasma neutrino emission rates. As we find none of them satisfactory we derive a new analytic approximation which is accurate to within 4% where the plasma process dominates. The correct emission rates in the parameter regime relevant for the red giant branch in globular clusters are larger by about 10 − 20% than those of previous stellar evolution calculations. Therefore, the core mass of red giants at the He flash is larger by about 0.005M⊙ or 1% than previously thought. Our bounds on neutrino magnetic dipole moments remain virtually unchanged. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal