Nonlinear Evolution of Fast Collective Neutrino Oscillations in Core-Collapse Supernovae

Abstract

According to one of the most promising supernova theories, the neutrino-heating mechanism, neutrinos are responsible for transferring the energy released during the gravitational collapse of massive stars to their surroundings. If neutrino flavors are converted fast in the cores, the efficiency of neutrino heating is enhanced and can change the dynamics of the shock wave in supernovae. In this article, we investigate the dynamics of fast neutrino flavor conversions with collisions under energy-dependent treatment in detail. For the first time, we use a realistic initial condition, which is taken from the results of the self-consistent, realistic Boltzmann simulations in two spatial dimensions under axisymmetry. We report that the neutrino flavor conversion will be significantly enhanced if the energy-dependent collision term is considered in the neutrino transport equation which has been ignored in previous studies. We present the preliminary results of our investigation here, which are consistent with other studies which were conducted under simple treatments. It is believed that such findings may have an impact on the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae, nucleosynthesis and neutrino astronomy.