Sterile neutrino oscillations in core-collapse supernovae

Abstract

We have made core-collapse supernova simulations that allow oscillations between electron neutrinos (or their anti particles) with right-handed sterile neutrinos. We have considered a range of mixing angles and sterile neutrino masses including those consistent with sterile neutrinos as a dark matter candidate. We examine whether such oscillations can impact the core bounce and shock reheating in supernovae. We identify the optimum ranges of mixing angles and masses that can dramatically enhance the supernova explosion by efficiently transporting electron anti-neutrinos from the core to behind the shock where they provide additional heating leading to much larger explosion kinetic energies. We show that this effect can cause stars to explode that otherwise would have collapsed. We find that an interesting periodicity in the neutrino luminosity develops due to a cycle of depletion of the neutrino density by conversion to sterile neutrinos that shuts off the conversion, followed by a replenished neutrino density as neutrinos transport through the core.

References in corpus (5)

• Multidimensional supernova simulations with approximative neutrino transport. II. Convection and the advective-acoustic cycle in the supernova core
• Neutrino-Nucleus Reaction Cross Sections for Light Element Synthesis in Supernova Explosions
• Restrictions on parameters of sterile neutrino dark matter from observations of galaxy clusters
• Dark matter sterile neutrinos in stellar collapse: alteration of energy/lepton number transport and a mechanism for supernova explosion enhancement
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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Supernova Constraints on Massive (Pseudo)Scalar Coupling to Neutrinos
• Probing nonlinear electrodynamics in slowly rotating spacetimes through neutrino astrophysics
• Supernova Physics at DUNE
• Neutrino Fluxes from a Core-Collapse Supernova in a Model with Three Sterile Neutrinos