Constraining the Spectrum of Supernova Neutrinos from Neutrino-Process-Induced Light-Element Synthesis

Abstract

We constrain energy spectra of supernova neutrinos through the avoidance of an overproduction of the 11B abundance during Galactic chemical evolution. In supernova nucleosynthesis calculations with a parametrized neutrino spectrum as a function of temperature of mu- and tau-neutrinos and their antiparticles and total neutrino energy, we find a strong neutrino temperature dependence of 11B yield. When the yield is combined with observed abundances, the acceptable range of the temperature of mu- and tau-neutrinos and their antiparticles is found to be 4.8 and 6.6 MeV. Non-zero chemical potentials would reduce this temperature range by about 10% for a degeneracy parameter smaller than 3.

4 pages, 3 figures, minor correction, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters