Detecting neutrinos from black hole neutron stars mergers

TL;DR

This paper investigates neutrino emissions from black hole-neutron star merger accretion disks, analyzing their fluxes and potential detection in neutrino observatories, to enhance understanding of gamma-ray bursts and nucleosynthesis.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of neutrino fluxes and detection prospects from black hole-neutron star merger disks.

Findings

Neutrino fluxes from the merger disks are comparable to supernovae.

Estimated detection rates suggest potential observability in current detectors.

Neutrino emissions influence gamma-ray burst mechanisms and element formation.

Abstract

While it is well known that neutrinos are emitted from standard core collapse protoneutron star supernovae, less attention has been focused on neutrinos from accretion disks. These disks occur in some supernovae (i.e. "collapsars") as well as in compact object mergers, and they emit neutrinos with similar properties to those from protoneutron star supernovae. These disks and their neutrinos play an important role in our understanding of gamma ray bursts as well as the nucleosynthesis they produce. We study a disk that forms in the merger of a black hole and a neutron star and examine the neutrino fluxes, luminosities and neutrino surfaces for the disk. We also estimate the number of events that would be registered in current and proposed supernova neutrino detectors if such an event were to occur in the Galaxy.