Speaker
Description
Neutrinos and their weak interactions play a vital role in the physics of core-collapse supernovae and binary neutron star mergers. Their description within astrophysical simulations, including the weak rates, is of crucial importance for the prediction of accurate neutrino fluxes and spectra. In my talk, I will introduce the charged-current weak rates treating the nuclear component at the level of the relativistic Hartree-Fock approach, which features explicitly momentum-dependent neutron and proton self-energies. It is this latter aspect which results in large differences in the neutrino opacity in comparison to the commonly employed relativistic Hartree mean-field approach. I will further discuss the differences between Hartree and Hartree-Fock charged current weak rates and emphasise the potential impact in astrophysical simulations.