Hyperons during proto-neutron star deleptonization and the emission of dark flavoured particles

TL;DR

This study investigates how dark flavoured particles produced during hyperon decay in supernovae affect proto-neutron star evolution, showing they can shorten neutrino emission timescales without altering observable signals.

Contribution

It provides the first self-consistent simulation of hyperon-induced dark particle emission during supernovae, integrating hyperon equations of state and assessing their impact on neutrino signals.

Findings

Dark sector particles shorten neutrino emission timescales by a factor of two.

Supernova neutrino signals are insensitive to hyperon presence within simulation times.

Upper limits on hyperon decay branching ratios are confirmed.

Abstract

Complementary to high-energy experimental efforts, indirect astrophysical searches of particles beyond the standard model have long been pursued. The present article follows the latter approach and considers, for the first time, the self-consistent treatment of the energy losses from dark flavoured particles produced in the decay of hyperons during a core-collapse supernova (CCSN). To this end, general relativistic supernova simulations in spherical symmetry are performed, featuring six-species Boltzmann neutrino transport, and covering the long-term evolution of the nascent remnant proto-neutron star (PNS) deleptonization for several tens of seconds. A well-calibrated hyperon equation of state (EOS) is therefore implemented into the supernova simulations and tested against the corresponding nucleonic model. It is found that supernova observables, such as the neutrino signal, are robustly insensitive to the appearance of hyperons for the simulation times considered in the present study. The presence of hyperons enables an additional channel for the appearance of dark sector particles, which is considered at the level of the $\Lambda$ hyperon decay. Assuming massless particles that escape the PNS after being produced, these channels expedite the deleptonizing PNS and the cooling behaviour. This, in turn, shortens the neutrino emission timescale. The present study confirms the previously estimated upper limits on the corresponding branching ratios for low and high mass PNS, by effectively reducing the neutrino emission timescale by a factor of two. This is consistent with the classical argument deduced from the neutrino detection associated with SN1987A.