arXiv · 0912.2568
Detecting the QCD phase transition in the next Galactic supernova neutrino burst
Abstract
Predictions of the thermodynamic conditions for phase transitions at high baryon densities and large chemical potentials are currently uncertain and largely phenomenological. Neutrino observations of core-collapse supernovae can be used to constrain the situation. Recent simulations of stellar core collapse that include a description of quark matter predict a sharp burst of anti ν_e several hundred milliseconds after the prompt ν_e neutronization burst. We study the observational signatures of that anti ν_e burst at current neutrino detectors - IceCube and Super-Kamiokande. For a Galactic core-collapse supernova, we find that signatures of the QCD phase transition can be detected, regardless of the neutrino oscillation scenario. The detection would constitute strong evidence of a phase transition in the stellar core, with implications for the equation of state at high matter density and the supernova explosion mechanism.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Basudeb Dasgupta, Tobias Fischer, Shunsaku Horiuchi, Matthias Liebendoerfer, Alessandro Mirizzi, Irina Sagert, Jurgen Schaffner-Bielich. 2010-05-30. Detecting the QCD phase transition in the next Galactic supernova neutrino burst. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.81.103005
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.