Detecting the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with a Supernova at IceCube

• Main Authors: Dighe, A. S., Keil, M. T., Raffelt, G. G.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2003
• Subjects: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology hep-ph; Astrophysics astro-ph; FOS Physical sciences; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.hep-ph/0303210; https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0303210

IceCube, a future km^3 antarctic ice Cherenkov neutrino telescope, is highly sensitive to a galactic supernova (SN) neutrino burst. The Cherenkov light corresponding to the total energy deposited by the SN neutrinos in the ice can be measured relative to background fluctuations with a statistical precision much better than 1%. If the SN is viewed through the Earth, the matter effect on neutrino oscillations can change the signal by more than 5%, depending on the flavor-dependent source spectra and the neutrino mixing parameters. Therefore, IceCube together with another high-statistics experiment like Hyper-Kamiokande can detect the Earth effect, an observation that would identify specific neutrino mixing scenarios that are difficult to pin down with long-baseline experiments. In particular, the normal mass hierarchy can be clearly detected if the third mixing angle is not too small, sin^2 theta_13 < 10^-3. The small flavor-dependent differences of the SN neutrino fluxes and spectra that are found in state-of-the-art simulations suffice for this purpose. Although the absolute calibration uncertainty at IceCube may exceed 5%, the Earth effect would typically vary by a large amount over the duration of the SN signal, obviating the need for a precise calibration. Therefore, IceCube with its unique geographic location and expected longevity can play a decisive role as a "co-detector" to measure SN neutrino oscillations. It is also a powerful stand-alone SN detector that can verify the delayed-explosion scenario. : 19 pages, 6 Figs, final version accepted by JCAP, some references added