Supernova Neutrinos: New Challenges and Future Directions

Irene Tamborra

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/888/1/012040

Abstract

Neutrinos are key particles in core-collapse supernovae. Traveling unimpeded through the stellar core, neutrinos can be direct probes of the still uncertain and fascinating supernova mechanism. Intriguing recent developments on the role of neutrinos during the stellar collapse are reviewed, as well as our current understanding of the flavor conversions in the stellar envelope. The detection perspectives of the next burst will be also outlined.

Highlights

Since the last core-collapse supernova (SN), the only one detected in neutrinos, substantial progress has been made as for our understanding of the physics leading to the stellar explosion [1, 2], the role of neutrinos in the star, and the flavor oscillations in neutrino-dense media [3, 4]
Another instability has been recently discovered: The lepton emission self-sustained asymmetry (LESA) [2, 16]; LESA is the first instability driven by neutrinos and it consists of an asymmetric emission of the νe number flux with respect to the νe one, see the right panel of Fig. 2
Summary Neutrinos play a fundamental role in the physics of a core-collapse supernova

Summary

Introduction

Since the last core-collapse supernova (SN), the only one detected in neutrinos, substantial progress has been made as for our understanding of the physics leading to the stellar explosion [1, 2], the role of neutrinos in the star, and the flavor oscillations in neutrino-dense media [3, 4]. We are still far from fully grasping the core collapse physics and the role of neutrinos in it. In this sense, the detection of the galactic burst will provide us with a precious test of our understanding of the stellar dynamics. We will outline some of the open issues in SN and neutrino astrophysics, as well as future directions

Supernova simulations

Findings

Flavor evolution in supernovae