Constraining the fraction of core-collapse supernovae harbouring choked jets with high-energy neutrinos

Abstract

The joint observation of core-collapse supernovae with gamma-ray bursts shows that jets can be launched in the aftermath of stellar core collapse, likely by a newly formed black hole that accretes matter from the star. Such gamma-ray bursts have only been observed accompanying Type Ibc supernovae, indicating a stellar progenitor that lost its Hydrogen envelope before collapse. It is possible that jets are launched in core-collapse events even in the presence of a Hydrogen envelope, however, such jets are unlikely to be able to burrow through the star and will be stalled before escaping. High-energy neutrinos produced by such choked jets could escape the stellar envelope and could be observed. Here we examine how multi-messenger searches for high-energy neutrinos and core-collapse supernovae can detect or limit the fraction of stellar collapses that produce jets. We find that a high fraction of jet production is already limited by previous observational campaigns. We explore possibilities with future observations using LSST, IceCube and Km3NET.

Neutrinos from Gamma-ray Bursts

“…Although their constraints are not significant with their data sets, they demonstrated that the methods would put a meaningful constraint on the choked-jet SN fraction near future with better facilities of optical transient surveys (e.g., Vela Rubin Observatory 168 ) and neutrino telescopes (e.g., IceCube-Gen2 108 and KM3NeT 169 ), as discussed in Ref. 170…”

Synergies of THESEUS with the large facilities of the 2030s and guest observer opportunities

“…The underlying physics that lies in the heart of GRB explosions is still unknown, and it has long been thought that in a significant fraction of explosions, the GRBs jets are choked. The expected outcome of a choked GRB jet may be neutrinos and X-rays [ 78 ]. Thus, detected neutrinos can be used as targets of opportunity for THESEUS to constrain the expected rate of choked GRBs.…”

Synergies of THESEUS with the large facilities of the 2030s and guest observer opportunities

“…The underlying physics that lies in the heart of GRB explosions is still unknown, and it is long been thought that in a significant fraction of explosions, the GRBs jets are choked. The expected outcome of a choked GRB jet may be neutrinos and X-rays [77]. Thus, detected neutrinos can be used as targets of opportunity for THESEUS to constrain the expected rate of choked GRBs.…”