Probing Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with Supernova

Abstract

The rise time of electron antineutrino lightcurve from a Galactic supernova (SN), observable at the IceCube Cherenkov detector, can provide signature of the neutrino mass hierarchy at “large” 1-3 leptonic mixing angle ϑ13. In the early accretion phase of the SN, the neutrino oscillations are nontrivial. Due to the matter suppression of collective effects at these early post bounce times, only the MSW resonances in the outer layers of the SN influence the neutrino flux. When the oscillations are taken into account, the signal in IceCube shows sufficiently fast rise time for the inverted mass hierarchy compared to the normal hierarchy. An investigation with an extensive set of stellar core-collapse simulations, provides both qualitative and quantitative robustness of these features. Thus opening another avenue to explore the neutrino mass hierarchy with the rise time of a supernova burst.