Magnetic and Thermal Effects in Neutrino Scattering in Hot and Dense Nuclear Matter

Neutrino scattering on nuclei embedded in the hot and dense matter typical of the core collapse of supernovae, neutron star mergers, and proto-neutron stars, is studied. At finite temperatures, neutrinos experience exo- and endo-energy scattering on nuclei due to the Gamow–Teller component of a neutral current. It is shown that the average transfer of energy due to neutrino–nucleus scattering changes from positive to negative values at neutrino energies around four times higher than the temperature of the matter.