The observatory for multiflavour neutrinos from supernovae

Abstract

The rapid core collapse of a massive star typically results in a supernova of type Ib, Ic or II, and is made possible by a huge emission of neutrinos. The observation of these neutrinos from a supernova within our Galaxy will allow stringent diagnostics of the core collapse process and of the properties of the neutrinos themselves, such as mass and oscillation parameters. The OMNIS collaboration aims to build a detector optimised for this purpose, capable of detecting statistically significant numbers of all flavours of neutrino. Components may be sited at the proposed National Underground Science Laboratory and at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the USA, and at the Boulby mine in the UK.