MACROSCOPIC PARITY VIOLATION AND SUPERNOVA ASYMMETRIES

Core collapse supernovae are dominated by weakly interacting neutrinos . This provides a unique opportunity for macroscopic parity violation. We speculate that parity violation in a strong magnetic field can lea d to an asymmetry in the explosion and a recoil of the newly formed ne utron star. We estimate the size of this asymmetry from neutrino polar ized-neutron elastic scattering, polarized electron capture and neutri no-nucleus elastic scattering in a (partially) polarized electron gas. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.