Detecting the QCD phase transition in the next Galactic supernova neutrino burst

TL;DR

This paper explores how neutrino detectors like IceCube and Super-Kamiokande can identify signatures of a QCD phase transition during a Galactic supernova, providing insights into high-density matter physics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the anti  burst associated with the QCD phase transition can be detected regardless of neutrino oscillation scenarios, offering a new observational probe.

Findings

Detection of anti  burst signals is feasible with current detectors.

Signatures of the QCD phase transition are distinguishable in supernova neutrino data.

Detection would confirm a phase transition in stellar cores, impacting understanding of dense matter.

Abstract

Predictions of the thermodynamic conditions for phase transitions at high baryon densities and large chemical potentials are currently uncertain and largely phenomenological. Neutrino observations of core-collapse supernovae can be used to constrain the situation. Recent simulations of stellar core collapse that include a description of quark matter predict a sharp burst of anti \nu_e several hundred milliseconds after the prompt \nu_e neutronization burst. We study the observational signatures of that anti \nu_e burst at current neutrino detectors - IceCube and Super-Kamiokande. For a Galactic core-collapse supernova, we find that signatures of the QCD phase transition can be detected, regardless of the neutrino oscillation scenario. The detection would constitute strong evidence of a phase transition in the stellar core, with implications for the equation of state at high matter density and the supernova explosion mechanism.