NEUTRINO ENERGY-LOSS IN STELLAR INTERIORS .8. BRAATEN-SEGEL APPROXIMATION FOR THE PLASMA NEUTRINO PROCESS

The accuracy of the Braaten-Segel approximation for the plasma neutrin o calculation is quantitatively assessed by comparison with the result obtained by using the Jancovici formula for the dielectric function f or degenerate electrons. It is found that the Braaten-Segel approximat ion is a reasonably good one when the plasma neutrino process is the m ost dominant process; the error is within similar to 5% in this case. When the plasma neutrino process is not the most dominant, the accurac y of the Braaten-Segel approximation becomes much poorer.