Detecting the Supernova Breakout Burst in Terrestrial Neutrino Detectors

Abstract

We calculate the distance-dependent performance of a few representative terrestrial neutrino detectors in detecting and measuring the properties of the ν e breakout burst light curve in a Galactic core-collapse supernova. The breakout burst is a signature phenomenon of core collapse and offers a probe into the stellar core through collapse and bounce. We examine cases of no neutrino oscillations and oscillations due to normal and inverted neutrinomass hierarchies. For the normal hierarchy, other neutrino flavors emitted by the supernova overwhelm the ν e signal, making a detection of the breakout burst difficult. For the inverted hierarchy (IH), some detectors at some distances should be able to see the ν e breakout burst peak and measure its properties. For the IH, the maximum luminosity of the breakout burst can be measured at 10 kpc to accuracies of ∼30% for Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) and ∼60% for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) and Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) lack the mass needed to make an accurate measurement. For the IH, the time of the maximum luminosity of the breakout burst can be measured in Hyper-K to an accuracy of ∼3 ms at 7 kpc, in DUNE to ∼2 ms at 4 kpc, and JUNO and Super-K can measure the time of maximum luminosity to an accuracy of ∼2 ms at 1 kpc. Detector backgrounds in IceCube render a measurement of the ν e breakout burst unlikely. For the IH, a measurement of the maximum luminosity of the breakout burst could be used to differentiate between nuclear equations of state.

Characterizing the Gravitational Wave Signal from Core-collapse Supernovae

“…If present and detected, this signature could potentially be extremely valuable because it might be used to infer the time at which the supernova shock is revived (Andresen et al 2017(Andresen et al , 2018. In combination with the knowledge of the time of neutrino shock breakout (Wallace et al 2016), this would produce a strong constraint on the explosion mechanism. Nevertheless, our results show that, in contrast with what Andresen et al (2017) and Andresen et al (2018) claimed on the basis of a few models affected by aliasing, it is the pulsation of the PNS that is the most robust feature of the GW signal in 3D, and not the SASI.…”

Neutrino signals of core-collapse supernovae in underground detectors

“…Hence, the accretion powered phase, the accretion of the silicon/oxygen interface itself, the progenitor-model and/or compactness (seen mostly through the overall event rate), and the explosion/no-explosion dichotomy are all in principle observables . The NH and IH hierarchies are less easily discerned in Super-K, though the earlier breakout burst is rather different for the two scenarios (Wallace et al 2016).…”

Global comparison of core-collapse supernova simulations in spherical symmetry

“…Fornax [56,57,58,18,59] is a multi-dimensional, multi-group radiation/hydrodynamic code employing a directionally-unsplit Godunov-type finite-volume TVD-limited reconstruction method, written in a covariant/coordinate-independent fashion, with generalized connection coefficients and static mesh refinement. It solves the comoving-frame, multi-group, two-moment, velocity-dependent transport equations with an explicit Godunov characteristic method applied to the radiation transport operators and an implicit solver for the radiation source terms, uses the M1 tensor closure for the second and third moments of the radiation fields [60], and employs approximate general-relativistic gravity [21].…”