Sterile neutrino dark matter and core-collapse supernovae

TL;DR

This study investigates how sterile neutrino dark matter influences core-collapse supernovae, showing it can enhance shock energy and potentially trigger explosions, with observable effects on neutrino signals.

Contribution

It introduces a supernova model incorporating sterile neutrino oscillations consistent with dark matter constraints, revealing their impact on explosion dynamics and neutrino emissions.

Findings

Sterile neutrinos can significantly boost shock energy in supernovae.

Presence of sterile neutrinos may enable non-exploding models to explode.

Sterile neutrinos could cause detectable changes in neutrino luminosities.

Abstract

We have explored the impact of sterile neutrino dark matter on core-collapse supernova explosions. We have included oscillations between electron neutrinos or mixed $\mu,\tau$ neutrinos and right-handed sterile neutrinos into a supernova model. We have chosen sterile neutrino masses and mixing angles that are consistent with sterile neutrino dark matter candidates as indicated by recent x-ray flux measurements. Using these simulations, we have explored the impact of sterile neutrinos on the core bounce and shock reheating. We find that, for ranges of sterile neutrino mass and mixing angle consistent with most dark matter constraints, the shock energy can be significantly enhanced and even a model that does not explode can be made to explode. In addition, we have found that the presence of a sterile neutrino may lead to detectable changes in the observed neutrino luminosities.