The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB) in the MeV regime represents the cumulative cosmic neutrino emission, predominantly due to core collapse supernovae. We estimate the DSNB flux for different Star Formation Rate Density (SFRD) models. We find that the DSNB flux estimated using the SFRD derived from Fermi-LAT Collaboration et al. (2018) is significantly higher ($approx$ 32$%$) relative to the flux estimated using the SFRD from Madau & Fragos (2017). This depicts the sensitivity between the DSNB flux and the SFRD estimates which shows that future detection of the DSNB can be used as a valuable tool to constrain the SFRD.
The diffuse cosmic supernova neutrino background (DSNB) is observational target of the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector and the forthcoming JUNO and Hyper-Kamiokande detectors. Current predictions are hampered by our still incomplete understanding of the supernova (SN) explosion mechanism and of the neutron star (NS) equation of state and maximum mass. In our comprehensive study we revisit this problem on grounds of the landscapes of successful and failed SN explosions obtained by Sukhbold et al. and Ertl et al. with parametrized one-dimensional neutrino engines for large sets of single-star and helium-star progenitors, with the latter serving as proxy of binary evolution effects. Besides considering engines of different strengths, leading to different fractions of failed SNe with black-hole (BH) formation, we also vary the NS mass limit, the spectral shape of the neutrino emission, and include contributions from poorly understood alternative NS-formation channels such as accretion-induced or merger-induced collapse events. Since the neutrino signals of our large model sets are approximate, we calibrate the associated degrees of freedom by using state-of-the-art simulations of proto-neutron star cooling. Our predictions are higher than other recent ones because of a large fraction of failed SNe with long delay to BH formation. Our best-guess model predicts a DSNB electron-antineutrino-flux of 28.8^{+24.6}_{-10.9} cm^{-2}s^{-1} with 6.0^{+5.1}_{-2.1} cm^{-2}s^{-1} in the favorable measurement interval of [10,30] MeV, and 1.3^{+1.1}_{-0.4} cm^{-2}s^{-1} with electron-antineutrino energies > 17.3 MeV, which is roughly a factor of two below the current SK limit. The uncertainty range is dominated by the still insufficiently constrained cosmic rate of stellar core-collapse events.
Binary interactions, especially mass transfer and mergers, can strongly influence the evolution of massive stars and change their final properties and the occurrence of supernovae. Here, we investigate how binary interactions affect predictions of the diffuse flux of neutrinos. By performing stellar population syntheses including prescriptions for binary interactions, we show that the resulting detection rates of the diffuse supernova neutrino background is enhanced by 15%-20% compared to estimates without binary considerations. A source of significant uncertainty arises due to the presently sparse knowledge of the evolution of rapidly rotating carbon-oxygen cores, especially those created as a result of mergers near the white dwarf to core collapse boundary. The enhancement effect may be as small as a few percent if the effects of rotation in postmerger systems are neglected, or as large as 75% if trends are extrapolated. Our estimates serve to highlight that binary effects can be important.
LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) has been proposed as a next generation 50 kt liquid scintillator detector. Its large target mass allows to search for the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB), which was generated by the cumulative emissions of all core-collapse supernovae throughout the universe. Indistinguishable background from reactor and atmospheric electron antineutrinos limits the detection window to the energy range between 9.5 MeV and 25 MeV. Depending on the mean supernova neutrino energy, about 5 to 10 events per year are expected in this energy window. The background from neutral current reactions of atmospheric neutrinos surpasses the DSNB by more than one order magnitude, but can be suppressed by pulse shape discrimination. Assuming that the residual background is known with 5% uncertainty, the DSNB can be detected with 2 sigma significance after 10 years of data taking. In case that no hint for a signal is seen, current standard DSNB models would be ruled out with more than 90% C.L.
Scalar (fermion) dark matter with mass in the MeV range coupled to ordinary neutrinos and another fermion (scalar) is motivated by scenarios that establish a link between radiatively generated neutrino masses and the dark matter relic density. With such a coupling, cosmic supernova neutrinos, on their way to us, could resonantly interact with the background dark matter particles, giving rise to a dip in their redshift-integrated spectra. Current and future neutrino detectors, such as Super-Kamiokande, LENA and Hyper-Kamiokande, could be able to detect this distortion.
The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB) provides an immediate opportunity to study the emission of MeV thermal neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae. The DSNB is a powerful probe of stellar and neutrino physics, provided that the core-collapse rate is large enough and that its uncertainty is small enough. To assess the important physics enabled by the DSNB, we start with the cosmic star formation history of Hopkins & Beacom (2006) and confirm its normalization and evolution by cross-checks with the supernova rate, extragalactic background light, and stellar mass density. We find a sufficient core-collapse rate with small uncertainties that translate into a variation of +/- 40% in the DSNB event spectrum. Considering thermal neutrino spectra with effective temperatures between 4-6 MeV, the predicted DSNB is within a factor 4-2 below the upper limit obtained by Super-Kamiokande in 2003. Furthermore, detection prospects would be dramatically improved with a gadolinium-enhanced Super-Kamiokande: the backgrounds would be significantly reduced, the fluxes and uncertainties converge at the lower threshold energy, and the predicted event rate is 1.2-5.6 events /yr in the energy range 10-26 MeV. These results demonstrate the imminent detection of the DSNB by Super-Kamiokande and its exciting prospects for studying stellar and neutrino physics.
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