Supernova Signatures of Neutrino Mass Ordering

TL;DR

This paper reviews how supernova neutrino observations can reveal the neutrino mass ordering, highlighting robust, model-independent signatures detectable by next-generation neutrino detectors.

Contribution

It identifies and emphasizes the most robust, least model-dependent signatures of neutrino mass ordering in supernova neutrino signals.

Findings

Neutrino flavor-energy-time evolution encodes mass ordering information.

Next-generation detectors will improve flavor sensitivity and statistics.

Certain signatures are robust against model uncertainties.

Abstract

A suite of detectors around the world is poised to measure the flavor-energy-time evolution of the ten-second burst of neutrinos from a core-collapse supernova occurring in the Milky Way or nearby. Next-generation detectors to be built in the next decade will have enhanced flavor sensitivity and statistics. Not only will the observation of this burst allow us to peer inside the dense matter of the extreme event and learn about the collapse processes and the birth of the remnant, but the neutrinos will bring information about neutrino properties themselves. This review surveys some of the physical signatures that the currently-unknown neutrino mass pattern will imprint on the observed neutrino events at Earth, emphasizing the most robust and least model-dependent signatures of mass ordering.