The Role of Collective Neutrino Flavor Oscillations in Core-Collapse Supernova Shock Revival

TL;DR

This study investigates whether collective neutrino flavor oscillations significantly influence shock revival in core-collapse supernovae, finding minimal impact on the explosion mechanism.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed 2D simulations combined with neutrino oscillation calculations, showing flavor conversions occur too late to affect shock revival.

Findings

Flavor conversions occur near or outside the shock

Neutrino oscillations enhance heating by only a few percent

High-density regions inhibit collective oscillations

Abstract

We explore the effects of collective neutrino flavor oscillations due to neutrino-neutrino interactions on the neutrino heating behind a stalled core-collapse supernova shock. We carry out axisymmetric (2D) radiation-hydrodynamic core-collapse supernova simulations, tracking the first 400 ms of the post-core-bounce evolution in 11.2 solar mass and 15 solar mass progenitor stars. Using inputs from these 2D simulations, we perform neutrino flavor oscillation calculations in multi-energy single-angle and multi-angle single-energy approximations. Our results show that flavor conversions do not set in until close to or outside the stalled shock, enhancing heating by not more than a few percent in the most optimistic case. Consequently, we conclude that the postbounce pre-explosion dynamics of standard core-collapse supernovae remains unaffected by neutrino oscillations. Multi-angle effects in regions of high electron density can further inhibit collective oscillations, strengthening our conclusion.