Neutrino mass bound in the standard scenario for supernova electronic antineutrino emission

TL;DR

This paper updates the neutrino mass limit using supernova data, achieving a 5.8 eV bound that is robust against astrophysical uncertainties and exploring future detector sensitivities.

Contribution

It provides a new neutrino mass bound from supernova data and assesses the potential of future detectors to improve this limit.

Findings

Neutrino mass limit of 5.8 eV at 95% CL from SN1987A data

Future detectors could reach sub-eV sensitivity, around 0.8 eV

Current bounds are comparable to laboratory measurements

Abstract

Based on recent improvements of the supernova electron antineutrino emission model, we update the limit on neutrino mass from the SN1987A data collected by Kamiokande-II, IMB and Baksan. We derive the limit of 5.8 eV at 95 % CL, that we show to be remarkably insensitive to the astrophysical uncertainties. Also we evaluate the ultimate mass sensitivity of this method for a detector like Super-Kamiokande. We find that the bound lies in the sub-eV region, 0.8 eV at 95 % CL being a typical outcome, competitive with the values that are presently probed in laboratory. However, this bound is subject to strong statistical fluctuations, correlated to the characteristics of the first few events detected. We briefly comment on the prospects offered by future detectors.