Neutrino production in stellar matter by photons in a renormalizable scalar-boson-exchange model of weak interactions

A report of a calculation of the rate of loss of energy in stellar matter through neutrino production by two-photon annihilation is presented. It uses the scalar-boson-exchange model of Kummer and Segrè for weak interactions. The results show that this mechanism for loss of energy is unlikely to be significant astrophysically. Comparison with a phenomenological calculation suggests that the mass of the scalar boson may be about 19 GeV.