2023-04-07 10:00  Online

Core-collapse supernovae as probes of (not only) non-standard neutrino physics

Dr. Anna Suliga

Core-collapse supernovae are among the most spectacular and efficient neutrino factories known so far. Detection of these neutrinos allows us to probe physics in extreme conditions not accessible on Earth. But so far, even with the detection of about twenty electron antineutrinos from SN 1987A, we are yet to test even the most basic prediction about the neutrino emission, i.e., different neutrino flavors produced during the collapse share a comparable amount of the released energy. Existing detectors can register significantly more neutrinos of all flavors from the closeby core-collapse supernova and test this assumption.

In this talk, I will discuss the implications of a phase transition from hadronic to quark matter on the neutrino emission from core-collapse supernovae and how the detection of such a signal on Earth can be used to point to the location of the supernova and set stringent limits on the absolute active neutrino mass.

Unfortunately, core-collapse supernovae extreme phenomenon rarely occurs in our galaxy and its vicinity, only a few times per century. Because of that, it is essential to observe neutrinos from multiple supernova events – the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). While the limit on the electron antineutrino component of the DSNB is only a factor of 2-3 above most of the theoretical predictions, the situation is worse for other flavors.

In this talk, I will present how the large-scale direct dark matter detectors can help significantly tighten the upper limits on the non-electron component of DSNB.