Sensitivity Study of Supernova Neutrinos for Mass Hierarchy

TL;DR

This paper assesses the ability of upcoming neutrino detectors to determine supernova neutrino mass hierarchy by simulating expected signals across different models and analyzing detection sensitivities.

Contribution

It provides a comparative sensitivity analysis of DUNE, Hyper-K, and JUNO detectors for supernova neutrinos using multiple flux models and the MSW effect.

Findings

DUNE sensitivity ranges from 3σ to 9σ.

Hyper-K sensitivity ranges from 4σ to 16σ.

JUNO sensitivity ranges from 1.7σ to 6.7σ.

Abstract

Supernovae represent some of the most energetically explosive events in the universe, with a substantial fraction of their released gravitational energy carried away by neutrinos. This study evaluates the sensitivity of three next-generation neutrino detectors which are Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K), and the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) to supernova neutrinos, specifically focusing on their ability to discern between normal and inverted mass hierarchies. We utilize three different flux models: Bollig, Tamborra and Nakazato, employing the SNEWPY software to simulate the expected neutrino fluxes from core-collapse supernovae. These models highlight the variability in the predictions due to different progenitors and simulation methods. By analyzing the event rates across various interaction channels and implementing the adiabatic Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect on the neutrino flux, we have calculated the expected detection rates for each detector. Our results indicate that sensitivities range from ${\sim}3\sigma$ to ${\sim}9\sigma$ for DUNE, ${\sim}4\sigma$ to ${\sim}16\sigma$ for Hyper-K and ${\sim}1.7\sigma$ to ${\sim}6.7\sigma$ for JUNO depending on distance and flux model, with sensitivity diminishing significantly at larger distances. This work underscores the potential of future neutrino observatories to enhance our understanding of fundamental physics through the study of supernova neutrinos.