Revisiting the Triangulation Method for Pointing to Supernova and Failed Supernova with Neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper re-evaluates the triangulation method for locating Galactic supernovae using neutrino arrival times, emphasizing improved accuracy with upcoming large-scale detectors and the benefits of failed supernova signals.

Contribution

It analyzes how neutrino arrival time resolution affects supernova pointing accuracy and demonstrates potential improvements with future detectors and failed supernova signals.

Findings

Supernova can be localized within 5-10 degrees in declination.

Localization accuracy improves with better time resolution.

Failed supernova signals yield higher timing precision.

Abstract

In view of the advent of large-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube, the future Hyper-Kamiokande and the ones proposed for the Laguna project in Europe, we re-examine the determination of the directional position of a Galactic supernova by means of its neutrinos using the triangulation method. We study the dependence of the pointing accuracy on the arrival time resolution of supernova neutrinos at different detectors. For a failed supernova, we expect better results due to the abrupt termination of the neutrino emission which allows one to measure the arrival time with higher precision. We found that for the time resolution of $\pm$ 2 (4) ms, the supernova can be located with a precision of $\sim$ 5 (10)$^\circ$ on the declination and of $\sim$ 8 (15)$^\circ$ on the right ascension angle, if we combine the observations from detectors at four different sites.