Charged-current weak interaction processes in hot and dense matter and its impact on the spectra of neutrinos emitted from proto-neutron star cooling

TL;DR

This study uses detailed simulations to show how charged-current neutrino interactions in hot, dense matter significantly influence neutrino spectra and luminosities from proto-neutron stars, affecting nucleosynthesis and neutrino detection.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive 3D Boltzmann neutrino transport simulations including mean field effects, revealing their impact on neutrino emission and supernova physics.

Findings

Neutrino luminosities are reduced by mean field effects.

Spectral differences between electron neutrinos and antineutrinos are increased.

Impacts on nucleosynthesis and neutrino detection are significant.

Abstract

We have performed three-flavor Boltzmann neutrino transport radiation hydrodynamics simulations covering a period of 3 s after the formation of a protoneutron star in a core-collapse supernova explosion. Our results show that a treatment of charged-current neutrino interactions in hot and dense matter as suggested by Reddy et al. [Phys. Rev. D 58, 013009 (1998)] has a strong impact on the luminosities and spectra of the emitted neutrinos. When compared with simulations that neglect mean field effects on the neutrino opacities, we find that the luminosities of all neutrino flavors are reduced while the spectral differences between electron neutrino and antineutrino are increased. Their magnitude depends on the equation of state and in particular on the symmetry energy at sub-nuclear densities. These modifications reduce the proton-to-nucleon ratio of the outflow, increasing slightly their entropy. They are expected to have a substantial impact on the nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds, even though they do not result in conditions that favor an r-process. Contrarily to previous findings, our simulations show that the spectra of electron neutrinos remain substantially different from those of other (anti)neutrino flavors during the entire deleptonization phase of the protoneutron star. The obtained luminosity and spectral changes are also expected to have important consequences for neutrino flavor oscillations and neutrino detection on Earth.