Flavor Evolution of the Neutronization Neutrino Burst from an O-Ne-Mg Core-Collapse Supernova

TL;DR

This study simulates 3-neutrino flavor evolution during a neutronization burst in an O-Ne-Mg core-collapse supernova, revealing spectral features that could distinguish supernova types and probe their environments.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed 3-neutrino flavor evolution simulations for this specific supernova type, highlighting the impact of nonlinear neutrino self-coupling on spectral features.

Findings

Spectral features depend on neutrino mass hierarchy.

Features differ between O-Ne-Mg and Fe core-collapse supernovae.

Potential to use neutrino spectra to probe supernova conditions.

Abstract

We present results of 3-neutrino flavor evolution simulations for the neutronization burst from an O-Ne-Mg core-collapse supernova. We find that nonlinear neutrino self-coupling engineers a single spectral feature of stepwise conversion in the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy case and in the normal mass hierarchy case, a superposition of two such features corresponding to the vacuum neutrino mass-squared differences associated with solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations. These neutrino spectral features offer a unique potential probe of the conditions in the supernova environment and may allow us to distinguish between O-Ne-Mg and Fe core-collapse supernovae.