Pre-Supernova Neutrinos in Large Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments

Nirmal Raj; Volodymyr Takhistov; Samuel J. Witte

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.043008

paper

Pre-Supernova Neutrinos in Large Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments

arXiv:1905.09283 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.043008

Abstract

The next Galactic core-collapse supernova (SN) is a highly anticipated observational target for neutrino telescopes. However, even prior to collapse, massive dying stars shine copiously in "pre-supernova" (pre-SN) neutrinos, which can potentially act as efficient SN warning alarms and provide novel information about the very last stages of stellar evolution. We explore the sensitivity to pre-SN neutrinos of large scale direct dark matter detection experiments, which, unlike dedicated neutrino telescopes, take full advantage of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering. We find that argon-based detectors with target masses of $O (100)$ tonnes (i.e. comparable in size to the proposed ARGO experiment) operating at sub-keV thresholds can detect $O (10 - 100)$ pre-SN neutrinos coming from a source at a characteristic distance of $\sim$ 200 pc, such as Betelgeuse ( $α$ Orionis). Large-scale xenon-based experiments with similarly low thresholds could also be sensitive to pre-SN neutrinos. For a Betelgeuse-type source, large scale dark matter experiments could provide a SN warning siren $\sim$ 10 hours prior to the explosion. We also comment on the complementarity of large scale direct dark matter detection experiments and neutrino telescopes in the understanding of core-collapse SN.

arXiv comment11 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables; v3: extended discussion on backgrounds, minor improvements, matches published version

Pre-Supernova Neutrinos in Large Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments

Abstract

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