Flavor composition of supernova neutrinos

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Capanema, Antonio, Porto, Yago, Saez, Maria Manuela
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Capanema, Antonio
Porto, Yago
Saez, Maria Manuela
author_facet Capanema, Antonio
Porto, Yago
Saez, Maria Manuela
contents Predicting the flavor composition of neutrinos from supernovae is a challenging task, primarily due to the high neutrino densities at their core. In such an environment, neutrino self-interactions give rise to collective effects that have dramatic yet poorly understood consequences for their flavor evolution. In this paper, however, we show that standard matter effects in the outer layers of supernovae can significantly constrain the flavor composition of the neutrino flux. We assume that, since a large number of neutrinos undergo different evolutions within the core, their state upon entering the MSW-dominated region is affected by decoherence. This assumption simplifies the problem and suggests that the fraction of neutrinos with electron flavor reaching Earth, denoted as $f_{ν_e}$, is constrained to be less than $0.5$ for all energies throughout the emission phase in the case of normal mass ordering. In contrast, for inverted mass ordering, we anticipate neutrinos arriving in near flavor equipartition ($f_{ν_e} \approx 1/3$). These predictions, and consequently their underlying assumptions, could be tested by future observations and may provide valuable insights into the properties of neutrino fluxes emerging from supernovae.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_14762
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Flavor composition of supernova neutrinos
Capanema, Antonio
Porto, Yago
Saez, Maria Manuela
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Predicting the flavor composition of neutrinos from supernovae is a challenging task, primarily due to the high neutrino densities at their core. In such an environment, neutrino self-interactions give rise to collective effects that have dramatic yet poorly understood consequences for their flavor evolution. In this paper, however, we show that standard matter effects in the outer layers of supernovae can significantly constrain the flavor composition of the neutrino flux. We assume that, since a large number of neutrinos undergo different evolutions within the core, their state upon entering the MSW-dominated region is affected by decoherence. This assumption simplifies the problem and suggests that the fraction of neutrinos with electron flavor reaching Earth, denoted as $f_{ν_e}$, is constrained to be less than $0.5$ for all energies throughout the emission phase in the case of normal mass ordering. In contrast, for inverted mass ordering, we anticipate neutrinos arriving in near flavor equipartition ($f_{ν_e} \approx 1/3$). These predictions, and consequently their underlying assumptions, could be tested by future observations and may provide valuable insights into the properties of neutrino fluxes emerging from supernovae.
title Flavor composition of supernova neutrinos
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.14762