Sterile neutrino dark matter and core-collapse supernovae

Abstract

We have explored the impact of sterile neutrino dark matter on core-collapse supernova explosions. We have included oscillations between electron neutrinos or mixed μ, τ neutrinos and right-handed sterile neutrinos into a supernova model. We have chosen sterile neutrino masses and mixing angles that are consistent with sterile neutrino dark matter candidates as indicated by recent x-ray flux measurements. Using these simulations, we have explored the impact of sterile neutrinos on the core bounce and shock reheating. We find that, for ranges of sterile neutrino mass and mixing angle consistent with most dark matter constraints, the shock energy can be significantly enhanced and even a model that does not explode can be made to explode. In addition, we have found that the presence of a sterile neutrino may lead to detectable changes in the observed neutrino luminosities.

Supernova constraints on massive (pseudo)scalar coupling to neutrinos

“…There has been an extensive study regarding the SM together with hypothetical beyond SM particles in the evolution of supernovae, including both active and sterile neutrinos , (very) light pseudoscalars (e.g. axion [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] and Majoron [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]) as well as vector bosons (dark photon [3,[50][51][52]), or even dark matter (DM) particles [20][21][22][23][53][54][55][56][57][58][59].…”