0000000000039760
AUTHOR
Ricard Tomàs
Interplay between collective effects and non-standard interactions of supernova neutrinos
We consider the effect of nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI, for short) on the propagation of neutrinos through the supernova (SN) envelope within a three-neutrino framework and taking into account the presence of a neutrino background. We find that for given NSI parameters, with strength generically denoted by epsilon(ij), neutrino evolution exhibits a significant time dependence. For vertical bar epsilon(tau tau)vertical bar greater than or similar to 10(-3) the neutrino survival probability may become sensitive to the V-23 octant and the sign of epsilon(tau tau). In particular, if epsilon(tau tau) greater than or similar to 10(-2) an internal I-resonance may arise independently of t…
Probing neutrino non-standard interactions with atmospheric neutrino data
We have reconsidered the atmospheric neutrino anomaly in light of the laetst data from Super-Kamiokande contained events and from Super-Kamiokande and MACRO up-going muons. We have reanalysed the proposed solution to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly in terms of non-standard neutrino-matter interactions (NSI) as well as the standard nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations (OSC). Our statistical analysis shows that a pure NSI mechanism is now ruled out at 99%, while the standard nu_mu -> nu_tau OSC mechanism provides a quite remarkably good description of the anomaly. We therefore study an extended mechanism of neutrino propagation which combines both oscillation and non-standard neutrino-matter i…
Generalized Bounds on Majoron-neutrino couplings
We discuss limits on neutrino-Majoron couplings both from laboratory experiments as well as from astrophysics. They apply to the simplest class of Majoron models which covers a variety of possibilities where neutrinos acquire mass either via a seesaw-type scheme or via radiative corrections. By adopting a general framework including CP phases we generalize bounds obtained previously. The combination of complementary bounds enables us to obtain a highly non-trivial exclusion region in the parameter space. We find that the future double beta project GENIUS, together with constraints based on supernova energy release arguments, could restrict neutrino-Majoron couplings down to the 10^{-7} leve…
Decoherence in supernova neutrino transformations suppressed by deleptonization
16 pages, 12 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 14.60.Pq; 97.60.Bw.-- ISI Article Identifier: 000251987300100.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2498
Collective flavor transitions of supernova neutrinos
We give a very brief overview of collective effects in neutrino oscillations in core collapse supernovae where refractive effects of neutrinos on themselves can considerably modify flavor oscillations, with possible repercussions for future supernova neutrino detection. We discuss synchronized and bipolar oscillations, the role of energy and angular neutrino modes, as well as three-flavor effects. We close with a short summary and some open questions.
Mu-tau neutrino refraction and collective three-flavor transformations in supernovae
9 pages, 6 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 14.60.Pq; 97.60.Bw.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0712.1137
Probing non-standard neutrino interactions with supernova neutrinos
17 pages, 12 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 13.15.+g; 14.60.Lm; 14.60.St; 97.60.Bw.-- ISI Article Identifier: 000249786800015.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0032
Supernova Bounds on Majoron-emitting decays of light neutrinos
Neutrino masses arising from the spontaneous violation of ungauged lepton-number are accompanied by a physical Goldstone boson, generically called Majoron. In the high-density supernova medium the effects of Majoron-emitting neutrino decays are important even if they are suppressed in vacuo by small neutrino masses and/or small off-diagonal couplings. We reconsider the influence of these decays on the neutrino signal of supernovae in the light of recent Super-Kamiokande data on solar and atmospheric neutrinos. We find that majoron-neutrino coupling constants in the range $3\times 10^{-7}\lsim g\lsim 2\times 10^{-5}$ or $g \gsim 3 \times 10^{-4}$ are excluded by the observation of SN1987A. T…
Role of dense matter in collective supernova neutrino transformations
6 pages, 2 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 14.60.Pq; 97.60.Bw.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0807.0659
SN 1987A and the status of oscillations solutions to the solar neutrino problem
We study neutrino oscillations and the level-crossing probability ${P}_{\mathrm{LSZ}}$ in power-law potential profiles $A(r)\ensuremath{\propto}{r}^{n}.$ We give local and global adiabaticity conditions valid for all mixing angles $\ensuremath{\vartheta}$ and discuss different representations for ${P}_{\mathrm{LSZ}}.$ For the ${1/r}^{3}$ profile typical of supernova envelopes we compare our analytical to numerical results and to earlier approximations used in the literature. We then perform a combined likelihood analysis of the observed SN 1987A neutrino signal and of the latest solar neutrino data, including the recent SNO CC measurement. We find that, unless all relevant supernova paramet…
Probing supernova physics with neutrino oscillations
We point out that solar neutrino oscillations with large mixing angle as evidenced in current solar neutrino data have a strong impact on strategies for diagnosing collapse-driven supernova (SN) through neutrino observations. Such oscillations induce a significant deformation of the energy spectra of neutrinos, thereby allowing us to obtain otherwise inaccessible features of SN neutrino spectra. We demonstrate that one can determine temperatures and luminosities of non-electron flavor neutrinos by observing bar{nu}_{e} from galactic SN in massive water Cherenkov detectors by the charged current reactions on protons.
Parameter Degeneracy in Flavor-Dependent Reconstruction of Supernova Neutrino Fluxes
We reexamine the possibility of reconstructing the initial fluxes of supernova neutrinos emitted in a future core-collapse galactic supernova explosion and detected in a Megaton-sized water Cherenkov detector. A novel key element in our method is the inclusion, in addition to the total and the average energies of each neutrino species, of a "pinching" parameter characterizing the width of the distribution as a fit parameter. We uncover in this case a continuous degeneracy in the reconstructed parameters of supernova neutrino fluxes at the neutrinosphere. We analyze in detail the features of this degeneracy and show how it occurs irrespective of the parametrization used for the distribution …
Large lepton mixing and supernova 1987A
We reconsider the impact of $\bar\nu_e \leftrightarrow \bar\nu_{\mu,\tau}$ neutrino oscillations on the observed $\bar\nu_e$ signal of supernova SN 1987A. Performing a maximum-likelihood analysis using as fit parameters the released binding energy $\Eb$ and the average neutrino energy $\Ee$, we find as previous analyses that $\bar\nu_e \leftrightarrow \bar\nu_{\mu,\tau}$ oscillations with large mixing angles have lower best-fit values for $\Ee$ than small-mixing angle (SMA) oscillations. Moreover, the inferred value of $\Ee$ is already in the SMA case lower than those found in simulations. This apparent conflict has been interpreted as evidence against the large mixing oscillation solutions…
High energy neutrino yields from astrophysical sources II: Magnetized sources
We calculate the yield of high energy neutrinos produced in astrophysical sources for arbitrary interaction depths $\tau_0$ and magnetic field strengths $B$. We take into account energy loss processes like synchrotron radiation and diffusion of charged particles in turbulent magnetic fields as well as the scattering of secondaries on background photons and the direct production of charm neutrinos. Meson-photon interactions are simulated with an extended version of the SOPHIA model. Diffusion leads to an increased path-length before protons leave the source of size R_s and therefore magnetized sources lose their transparency below the energy $E\sim 10^{18}{\rm eV} (R_s/{\rm pc}) (B/{\rm mG})…