Effect of Resonant Neutrino Oscillation on TeV Neutrino Flavor Ratio from Choked GRBs

TL;DR

This paper investigates how resonant neutrino oscillations within choked gamma-ray burst progenitors can significantly alter the expected flavor ratios of TeV neutrinos detected on Earth, depending on oscillation parameters.

Contribution

It demonstrates that resonant oscillations inside dense stellar envelopes can modify neutrino flavor ratios, providing new insights into neutrino physics and astrophysical sources.

Findings

Resonant oscillations can change flavor ratios to 5:11:2 at the source.

Final flavor ratios on Earth depend on neutrino mixing angles, either ~1:1.095:1.095 or 1:1.3:1.3.

Neutrino flavor ratios are sensitive to the density profile of choked GRB progenitors.

Abstract

In the collapsar scenario of the long duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), multi-TeV neutrino emission is predicted as the jet makes its way through the stellar envelope. Such a neutrino signal is also expected for more general ``failed'' GRBs in which a putative jet is ``choked'' by a heavy envelope. If the \nu_e \rightarrow \nu_\mu neutrino oscillation parameters are in the atmospheric neutrino oscillation range, we show that the resonant oscillation of \nu_e\leftrightarrow\nu_{\mu,\tau} can take place within the inner high density region of the choked jet progenitor with a heavy envelope, altering the neutrino flavor ratio on its surface to \Phi^s_{\nu_e}:\Phi^s_{\nu_\mu}:\Phi^s_{\nu_\tau}=5:11:2. Considering vacuum oscillation of these neutrinos on their way to Earth, the final flavor ratio detected on Earth is further modified to either $1:1.095:1.095$ for the large mixing angle solution to the solar neutrino data, or 1:1.3:1.3 for maximal mixing among the muon and tau neutrinos in vacuum.