Memory-triggered supernova neutrino detection

TL;DR

This paper proposes using gravitational memory signals from supernovae to trigger neutrino detection at large-scale detectors, enabling detailed studies of supernova neutrino emissions in the local universe.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to use gravitational memory observations for time-triggered supernova neutrino searches, bridging the sensitivity gap in current detection techniques.

Findings

Potential to detect 3-70 neutrino events per Mt per decade.

Sensitivity to gravitational strains of ~10^{-25} at 0.3 Hz.

Enables background-free supernova neutrino detection at 40-300 Mpc.

Abstract

We demonstrate that observations of the gravitational memory from core collapse supernovae at future Deci-Hz interferometers enable time-triggered searches of supernova neutrinos at Mt-scale detectors. Achieving a sensitivity to characteristic strains of at least $\sim 10^{-25}$ at $f\simeq 0.3$ Hz -- e.g., by improving the noise of DECIGO by one order of magnitude -- will allow robust time triggers for supernovae at distances $D\sim 40-300$ Mpc, resulting in a nearly background-free sample of $\sim 3-70$ neutrino events per Mt per decade of operation. This sample would bridge the sensitivity gap between rare galactic supernova bursts and the cosmological diffuse supernova neutrino background, allowing detailed studies of the neutrino emission of supernovae in the local Universe.