Earth matter effects on the supernova neutrino spectra

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Earth's matter influences supernova neutrino spectra, showing potential to determine neutrino properties and solutions through spectral observations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that supernova neutrino spectra observed at Earth can reveal neutrino mass hierarchy, mixing angles, and solar neutrino solutions, even with a single detector.

Findings

Earth matter effects alter supernova neutrino spectra.

Spectral observations can identify neutrino mass hierarchy.

Single detector observations may suffice to detect matter effects.

Abstract

We explore the earth matter effects on the energy spectra of neutrinos from a supernova. We show that the observations of the energy spectra of $\nu_e$ and $\bar{\nu}_e$ from a galactic supernova may enable us to identify the solar neutrino solution, to determine the sign of $\Delta m^2_{32}$, and to probe the mixing matrix element $|U_{e3}|^2$ to values as low as $10^{-3}$. We point out scenarios in which the matter effects can even be established through the observation of the spectrum at a single detector.