Neutrino Scattering and Flavor Transformation in Supernovae

John F. Cherry, J. Carlson, Alexander Friedland, George M. Fuller, and Alexey Vlasenko

Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 261104 – Published 26 June 2012

Abstract

We argue that the small fraction of neutrinos that undergo direction-changing scattering outside of the neutrinosphere could have significant influence on neutrino flavor transformation in core-collapse supernova environments. We show that the standard treatment for collective neutrino flavor transformation is adequate at late times but could be inadequate in early epochs of core-collapse supernovae, where the potentials that govern neutrino flavor evolution are affected by the scattered neutrinos. Taking account of this effect, and the way it couples to entropy and composition, will require a new approach in neutrino flavor transformation modeling.

Received 9 March 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.261104

Authors & Affiliations

John F. Cherry^1,2, J. Carlson^2,3, Alexander Friedland^2,3, George M. Fuller^1,2, and Alexey Vlasenko^1,2

¹Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
²Neutrino Engineering Institute, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
³Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA