Neutrino emission in cold neutron stars: Bremsstrahlung and modified urca rates reexamined

Abstract

Neutrino emission in cold neutron stars is dominated by the modified urca (murca) process and nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung. The standard emission rates were provided by Friman and Maxwell in 1979, effectively based on a chiral Lagrangian framework with pion and rho meson exchange, supplemented by Landau parameters to describe short-range interactions. We reevaluate these rates within the same framework, correcting several errors and removing unnecessary simplifications, notably the triangular approximation — where the Fermi momenta of protons and leptons negligible compared to that of neutrons — in MURCA, and quantify their importance. The impact of rho meson exchange, previously argued to cancel with interference effects, is actually quite relevant. Altogether, the cooling rates are reduced by as much as a factor 2. We provide comprehensive analytical formulas encompassing all contributions, designed for straightforward numerical implementation. Our results are particularly relevant for studies of physics beyond the standard model, where the emission of new particles — such as axions — is typically computed within the same framework we adopt here.