Collisional flavor instabilities of supernova neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper reveals the existence of collisional flavor instabilities in supernova neutrinos, which could significantly influence supernova dynamics by inducing quantum coherence through interactions with the thermal environment.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of collisional flavor instabilities, expanding the understanding beyond previously known collisionless phenomena in supernova neutrino oscillations.

Findings

Collisional instabilities are linked to neutrino-antineutrino interaction asymmetries.

These instabilities may be common deep inside supernovae.

They can cause sustained quantum coherence growth despite thermal interactions.

Abstract

A lingering mystery in core-collapse supernova theory is how collective neutrino oscillations affect the dynamics. All previously identified flavor instabilities, some of which might make the effects considerable, are essentially collisionless phenomena. Here it is shown that collisional instabilities exist as well. They are associated with asymmetries between the neutrino and antineutrino interaction rates, are possibly prevalent deep inside supernovae, and pose an unusual instance of decoherent interactions with a thermal environment causing the sustained growth of quantum coherence.