Neutrino Emission as Diagnostics of Core-Collapse Supernovae

Abstract

With myriads of detection events from a prospective Galactic core-collapse supernova, current and future neutrino detectors will be able to sample detailed, time-dependent neutrino fluxes and spectra. This will offer significant possibilities of inferring supernova physics from the various phases of the neutrino signal, ranging from the neutronization burst through the accretion and early explosion phases to the cooling phase. The signal will constrain the time evolution of bulk parameters of the young proto–neutron star, such as its mass and radius, as well as the structure of the progenitor; probe multidimensional phenomena in the supernova core; and constrain the dynamics of the early explosion phase. Aside from further astrophysical implications, supernova neutrinos may also shed light on the properties of matter at supranuclear densities and on open problems in particle physics.