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Maria Cristina Volpe

Publications and source records attributed to Maria Cristina Volpe.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2024

Using Bayesian Inference to Distinguish Neutrino Flavor Conversion Scenarios via a Prospective Supernova Neutrino Signal

The upcoming galactic core-collapse supernova is expected to produce a considerable number of neutrino events within terrestrial detectors. By using Bayesian inference techniques, we address the feasibility of distinguishing among various neutrino flavor conversion scenarios in the supernova environment, using such a neutrino signal. In addition to the conventional MSW, we explore several more sophisticated flavor conversion scenarios, such as spectral swapping, fast flavor conversions, flavor equipartition caused by non-standard neutrino interactions, magnetically-induced flavor equilibration, and flavor equilibrium resulting from slow flavor conversions. Our analysis demonstrates that with a sufficiently large number of neutrino events during the supernova accretion phase (exceeding several hundreds), there exists a good probability of distinguishing among feasible neutrino flavor conversion scenarios in the supernova environment.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2022

Core-collapse supernovae and neutrino properties

We highlight developments in the domain of supernova neutrinos. We discuss the importance of the future observation, by running and upcoming experiments, of the neutrino signals from the next supernova as well as of the diffuse supernova neutrino background.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2021

Neutrino flavor evolution in dense environments and the r-process

In dense environments, standard and non-standard neutrino interactions with the background particles trigger a variety of flavor mechanisms, which can impact r-process nucleosynthetic abundances. Future observations of a(n) (extra)galactic supernova will tell us about properties of neutrinos and of the astrophysical source that produce them. The upcoming measurement of the diffuse supernova neutrino background constitute a unique source of information. We highlight some recent developments.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2020

Neutrino decoupling including flavour oscillations and primordial nucleosynthesis

We revisit the decoupling of neutrinos in the early universe with flavour oscillations. We rederive the quantum kinetic equations which determine the neutrino evolution based on a BBGKY-like hierarchy, and include for the first time the full collision term, with both on- and off-diagonal terms for all relevant reactions. We focus on the case of zero chemical potential and solve these equations numerically. We also develop an approximate scheme based on the adiabatic evolution in the matter basis. In fact, the large difference between the oscillations and cosmological time scales allows to consider averaged flavour oscillations which can speed up the numerical integration by two orders of magnitude, when combined with a direct computation of the differential system Jacobian. The approximate numerical scheme is also useful to gain more insight into the physics of neutrino decoupling. Including the most recent results on plasma thermodynamics QED corrections, we update the effective number of neutrinos to $N_{\mathrm{eff}} = 3.0440$. Finally we study the impact of flavour oscillations during neutrino decoupling on the subsequent primordial nucleosynthesis.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2020

Fast Neutrino Flavor Conversion Modes in Multidimensional Core-collapse Supernova Models: the Role of the Asymmetric Neutrino Distributions

A dense neutrino gas, such as the one anticipated in the supernova environment, can experience fast neutrino flavor conversions on scales much shorter than those expected in vacuum probably provided that the angular distributions of $ν_e$ and $\barν_e$ cross each other. We perform a detailed investigation of the neutrino angular distributions obtained by solving the Boltzmann equations for fixed matter profiles of some representative snapshots during the post-bounce phase of core-collapse supernovae in multidimensional calculations of an $11.2\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ and a $27\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ progenitor models. Although the $11.2\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ model features $ν_e - \barν_e$ angular crossings and the associated fast modes at different time snapshots, the $27\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ model does not show any crossings within the decoupling region. We show that this can be understood by studying the multipole components of the neutrino distributions. In fact, there is a higher chance for the occurrence of $ν_e - \barν_e$ angular crossings for the zones where the multipole components of the neutrino distributions are strong enough. We also show that there can exist more than one crossings between the angular distributions of $ν_e$ and $\barν_e$. In addition, apart from the crossings within the neutrino decoupling region, there is a class of $ν_e-\barν_e$ angular crossings which appears very deep inside the proto-neutron star.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2020

On the occurrence of fast neutrino flavor conversions in multidimensional supernova models

The dense neutrino medium in a core-collapse supernova or a neutron-star merger event can experience fast flavor conversions on time/distance scales that are much smaller than those of vacuum oscillations. It is believed that fast neutrino flavor transformation occurs in the region where the angular distributions of $ν_e$ and $\barν_e$ cross each other. We present the first study of this crossing phenomenon and the fast neutrino flavor conversions in multidimensional (multi-D) supernova models. We examine the neutrino distributions obtained by solving the Boltzmann transport equation for several fixed profiles which are representative snapshots taken from separate 2D and 3D supernova simulations with an $11.2 M_\odot$ progenitor model. Our research shows that the spherically asymmetric patterns of the $ν_e$ and $\barν_e$ fluxes in multi-D models can assist the appearance of the crossing between the $ν_e$ and $\barν_e$ angular distributions. In the models that we have studied, there exist unstable neutrino oscillation modes in and beyond the neutrino decoupling region which have amplitude growth rates as large as an $e$-fold per nanosecond. This finding can have important consequences for the explosion mechanism, nucleosynthesis, and neutrino signals of core-collapse supernovae.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2019

Neutrino decoherence in presence of strong gravitational fields

We explore the impact of strong gravitational fields on neutrino decoherence. To this aim, we employ the density matrix formalism to describe the propagation of neutrino wave packets in curved spacetime. By considering Gaussian wave packets, we determine the coherence proper time, neglecting the effect of matter outside the compact object. We show that strong gravitational fields nearby compact objects significantly influence neutrino coherence.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2019

On Fast Neutrino Flavor Conversion Modes in the Nonlinear Regime

A dense neutrino medium could experience self-induced flavor conversions on relatively small scales in the presence of the so-called fast flavor conversion modes. Owing to the fact that fast conversion scales could be much smaller than the ones of the traditional collective neutrino oscillations, it has been speculated that fast modes could lead to some sort of flavor decoherence/equilibrium. We study the evolution of fast modes in the nonlinear regime and we show that not only fast modes are not guaranteed to lead to flavor equilibrium, but also they could lead to some sort of collective neutrino oscillations but on scales determined by neutrino number density. For the $ν_e$ dominated case, we observe large amplitude collective oscillations, whereas a sort of flavor stabilization is reached for the $\barν_e$ dominated case.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2017

What can we learn on supernova neutrino spectra with water Cherenkov detectors?

We investigate the precision with which the supernova neutrino spectra can be reconstructed in water Cherenkov detectors, in particular the large scale Hyper-Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande. To this aim, we consider quasi-thermal neutrino spectra modified by the Mikheev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effect for the case of normal ordering. We perform three 9 degrees of freedom likelihood analyses including first inverse-beta decay only, then the combination of inverse beta decay and elastic scattering on electrons and finally a third analysis that also includes neutral scattering neutrino-oxygen events. A tenth parameter is added in the analyses to account for the theoretical uncertainty on the neutral current neutrino-oxygen cross section. By assuming a 100\% efficiency in Hyper-Kamiokande, we show that one can reconstruct the electron antineutrino average energy and pinching parameter with an accuracy of $\sim2\%$ and $\sim7\%$ percent respectively, while the antineutrino integrated luminosity can be pinned down at $\sim3\%$ percent level. As for the muon and tau neutrinos, the average energy and the integrated luminosity can be measured with $\sim7\%$ precision. These results represent a significant improvement with respect Super-Kamiokande, particularly for the pinching parameter defining the electron antineutrino spectra. As for electron neutrinos, the determination of the emission parameters requires the addition of supplementary detection channels.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2017

Measuring the neutron star compactness and binding energy with supernova neutrinos

We investigate the precision with which a neutron star gravitational binding energy can be measured through the supernova neutrino signal, without assuming any prior such as the energy equipartition hypothesis, mean energies hierarchy or constraints on the pinching parameters that characterize the neutrino spectra. We consider water Cherenkov detectors and prove that combining inverse beta decay with elastic scattering on electrons is sufficient to reach $11\%$ precision on the neutron star gravitational binding energy already with Super-Kamiokande. The inclusion of neutral current events on oxygen in the analysis does not improve the precision further. We show that $3\%$ precision can be achieved if priors are introduced, such as energy equipartition. We discuss the implications of our findings on the properties of the newly formed neutron star, in particular concerning the assessment of the compactness or mass--radius relation.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2017

Neutrino propagation in binary neutron star mergers in presence of nonstandard interactions

We explore the impact of nonstandard interactions on neutrino propagation in accretion disks around binary neutron star mergers remnants. We show flavor evolution can be significantly modified even for values of the nonstandard couplings well below current bounds. We demonstrate the occurrence of I resonances as synchronized MSW phenomena and show that intricate conversion patterns might appear depending on the nonstandard interaction parameters. We discuss the possible implications for nucleosynthesis.

hep-ph↗