Neutrino Flavor Transformation in Collapsing Supermassive Objects

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Auteurs principaux: Kehrer, Kyle S., Fuller, George M., Padilla-Gay, Ian, Kishimoto, Chad T.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Kehrer, Kyle S.
Fuller, George M.
Padilla-Gay, Ian
Kishimoto, Chad T.
author_facet Kehrer, Kyle S.
Fuller, George M.
Padilla-Gay, Ian
Kishimoto, Chad T.
contents The collapse of supermassive stars (SMSs, $M\gtrsim10^4\,M_\odot$) to black holes is accompanied by a prodigious flux of neutrinos of all flavors. These are produced thermally via $e^\pm$ annihilations, mostly in the core and just before gravitational trapped surface formation. There, the ratio of fluxes for $ν_e\barν_e$-pairs to $ν_μ\barν_μ/ν_τ\barν_τ$-pairs is $\sim$\,5-to-1. This is because at SMS temperature scales, $ν_e\barν_e$ pairs have both charged and neutral current production channels, whereas $ν_μ\barν_μ/ν_τ\barν_τ$-pairs only have neutral current production channels. We point out that the typical energies of these neutrinos, and the run of density in collapsing radiation-dominated supermassive configurations, leads to Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) resonances inside these objects for the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting scale, $Δm^2_\mathrm{atm.}\sim2.4\times10^{-3}$ eV$^2$. In the normal neutrino mass hierarchy, adiabatic flavor transformation through the MSW resonances would then swap the fluxes $ν_e\leftrightharpoonsν_{μ,τ}$, whereas, in the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, the anti-neutrino fluxes are swapped, $\barν_e\leftrightharpoons\barν_{μ,τ}$. We also examine the prospects for collective neutrino flavor oscillations in these environments. Implications for flavor oscillation's effects on neutrino energy deposition and neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis in the SMS's outer layers are examined, as are prospects for detections of SMS collapses through various means.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_04360
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Neutrino Flavor Transformation in Collapsing Supermassive Objects
Kehrer, Kyle S.
Fuller, George M.
Padilla-Gay, Ian
Kishimoto, Chad T.
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
The collapse of supermassive stars (SMSs, $M\gtrsim10^4\,M_\odot$) to black holes is accompanied by a prodigious flux of neutrinos of all flavors. These are produced thermally via $e^\pm$ annihilations, mostly in the core and just before gravitational trapped surface formation. There, the ratio of fluxes for $ν_e\barν_e$-pairs to $ν_μ\barν_μ/ν_τ\barν_τ$-pairs is $\sim$\,5-to-1. This is because at SMS temperature scales, $ν_e\barν_e$ pairs have both charged and neutral current production channels, whereas $ν_μ\barν_μ/ν_τ\barν_τ$-pairs only have neutral current production channels. We point out that the typical energies of these neutrinos, and the run of density in collapsing radiation-dominated supermassive configurations, leads to Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) resonances inside these objects for the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting scale, $Δm^2_\mathrm{atm.}\sim2.4\times10^{-3}$ eV$^2$. In the normal neutrino mass hierarchy, adiabatic flavor transformation through the MSW resonances would then swap the fluxes $ν_e\leftrightharpoonsν_{μ,τ}$, whereas, in the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, the anti-neutrino fluxes are swapped, $\barν_e\leftrightharpoons\barν_{μ,τ}$. We also examine the prospects for collective neutrino flavor oscillations in these environments. Implications for flavor oscillation's effects on neutrino energy deposition and neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis in the SMS's outer layers are examined, as are prospects for detections of SMS collapses through various means.
title Neutrino Flavor Transformation in Collapsing Supermassive Objects
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.04360