In the depths of a neutron star, the remnant of an exploded star, matter is compressed so tightly that a teaspoon would weigh billions of tons. Within this superdense material, a special kind of force might be at work, one that affects only muon and tau neutrinos. Such a force is predicted by certain extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics.
If this force exists, a neutron star becomes a giant generator. The electric field created by the star's charge pulls neutrino pairs, particle and antiparticle, out of the vacuum. One escapes, the other sinks into the star. This creates a steady neutrino wind. Each particle carries about 100 MeV, roughly the energy of an electron in an old TV set, but for neutrinos.
The flux from a young star a hundred light-years away could be detected by Earth-based detectors. This offers a chance to test a force that would otherwise remain elusive. The neutron star becomes a laboratory where nature itself runs the experiment.
A neutron star is the size of a city, but its magnetic field can be a quadrillion times stronger than Earth's — enough to tear atoms apart at a distance of a thousand kilometers.
In Peter Watts's novel Blindsight, neutrinos are used for communication across the stars — much like in this work, except here the stream arises on its own.