Pulsar Kicks from Neutrino Oscillations

Neutrino oscillations in a core-collapse supernova may be responsible for the observed rapid motions of pulsars. Given the present bounds on the neutrino masses, the pulsar kicks require a sterile neutrino with mass 2–20 keV and a small mixing with the active neutrinos. The same particle can be the cosmological dark matter. Its existence can be confirmed the by the X-ray telescopes if they detect a 1–10 keV photon line from the decays of the relic sterile neutrinos. In addition, one may be able to detect gravity waves from a pulsar being accelerated by neutrinos in the event of a nearby supernova.