Sensitivity Study for Astrophysical Neutrinos at Hyper-Kamiokande

Abstract

Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) is a next generation underground large water Cherenkov detector. The detector is filled with ultra-pure water and surrounded with newly developed photodetectors. It will provide the fiducial volume of 0.187 Mt, which is 8 times larger than preceding experiment Super-Kamiokande. The energies, positions, directions and types of charged particles produced by neutrino interactions can be identified using its Cherenkov light in water. The Hyper-K detector will be located at deep underground to reduce the cosmic muon flux and its spallation products, which is a dominant background for the low energy astrophysical neutrino measurements. With its fruitful physics research programs, Hyper-K will play a critical role in the next neutrino physics frontier. It will also provide important information via astrophysical neutrino measurements, i.e., solar neutrino, supernova burst neutrinos and supernova relic neutrino. Here, we will discuss the physics potential of Hyper-K neutrino astrophysics.