Neutrino Landau damping

The kinetic regime of the collective interaction between neutrinos and elec tron plasma waves is described via the coupled kinetic equations for neutri nos and electrons. It is shown that neutrinos can Landau damp electron plas ma waves. In dense stellar plasmas, this novel mechanism can play a signifi cant role as an additional and much stronger turbulent plasma cooling proce ss. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.