Matter Neutrino Resonance Transitions above a Neutron Star Merger Remnant

TL;DR

This paper presents the first self-consistent 3D simulations of Matter-Neutrino Resonance transitions in neutrinos emitted from neutron star mergers, revealing significant flavor transformation effects.

Contribution

It introduces the first calculations of MNR transitions using self-consistent potentials from a dynamical 3D neutron star merger model.

Findings

Symmetric and Standard MNR transitions occur in both hierarchies.

A significant fraction of neutrinos likely undergo MNR transitions.

Transitions occur in regions above the merger remnant.

Abstract

The Matter-Neutrino Resonance (MNR) phenomenon has the potential to significantly alter the flavor content of neutrinos emitted from compact object mergers. We present the first calculations of MNR transitions using neutrino self interaction potentials and matter potentials generated selfconsistently from a dynamical model of a three-dimensional neutron star merger. In the context of the single angle approximation, we find that Symmetric and Standard MNR transitions occur in both normal and inverted hierarchy scenarios. We examine the spatial regions above the merger remnant where propagating neutrinos will encounter the matter neutrino resonance and find that a significant fraction of the neutrinos are likely to undergo MNR transitions.