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[53.12] Neutrino-driven Acoustic Wave Instabilities in Proto-Neutron Stars and Gamma-Ray Burst Accretion Flows

O. M. Blaes (University of California, Santa Barbara), C. L. Fryer (Los Alamos National Laboratory), A, Socrates (University of California, Santa Barbara)

We examine the conditions under which a large diffusive neutrino flux can destabilize acoustic and magnetoacoustic waves. The instability mechanism is very similar to that responsible for so-called ``photon bubble instabilities'' in radiation magnetohydrodynamics. If such instabilities occur in nature, they may accelerate the escape of neutrinos from the source, and/or introduce anisotropies in the neutrino emission. Such anisotropies may constitute a mechanism for producing neutron star kicks, and be a significant source of gravitational waves.

This work is supported in part by NSF grant AST-0307657 and UCSB/LANL CARE grant SBB-001A.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.