Nonlinear evolution of fast neutrino flavor conversion in the preshock region of core-collapse supernovae

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nonlinear evolution of fast neutrino flavor conversion in the preshock region of core-collapse supernovae, revealing that tiny angular crossings can trigger instabilities affecting supernova dynamics.

Contribution

It provides the first numerical demonstration of fast flavor conversion triggered by tiny angular crossings in a realistic supernova environment.

Findings

Fast instability is triggered by tiny angular crossings.

Flavor instability propagates into other modes due to nonlinear effects.

Fast flavor conversion can significantly impact supernova physics.

Abstract

In environments with high dense neutrino gases, such as in core-collapse supernovae, the neutrinos can experience collective neutrino oscillation due to their self-interactions. In particular, fast flavor conversion driven by the crossings in the neutrino angular distribution can affect explosion mechanism, nucleosynthesis, and neutrino observation. We perform the numerical computation of nonlinear flavor evolution on the neutrino angular distribution with tiny crossings expected to be generated in the preshock region. We demonstrate that the fast instability is triggered and a cascade develops under a realistic three-flavor model considering muon production and weak magnetism in the SN dynamics. The tiny crossing excites specific spatial modes, and then the flavor instability propagates into other modes which otherwise remain stable due to the nonlinear effects. Our results indicate that fast flavor conversion can rise in the preshock region and have a sufficient impact on the flavor contents.