Muonization of supernova matter

TL;DR

This paper explores how muons influence the early neutrino emissions in core-collapse supernovae, extending previous models by including muonic reactions and analyzing their effects on supernova dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces the first detailed analysis of muons' role in supernovae, building on recent work to quantify their impact on neutrino emission and supernova evolution.

Findings

Muons appear shortly before core bounce.

Muon-related reactions modify neutrino emission.

Muons influence supernova dynamics.

Abstract

The present article investigates the impact of muons on core-collapse supernovae, with particular focus on the early muon neutrino emission. While the presence of muons is well understood in the context of neutron stars, until the recent study by Bollig et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 242702 (2017)] the role of muons in core-collapse supernovae had been neglected--electrons and neutrinos were the only leptons considered. In their study, Bollig et al. disentangled the muon and tau neutrinos and antineutrinos and included a variety of muonic weak reactions, all of which the present paper follows closely. Only then does it becomes possible to quantify the appearance of muons shortly before stellar core bounce and how the post-bounce prompt neutrino emission is modified