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R. Tomas

Publications and source records attributed to R. Tomas.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2008

High energy radiation from Centaurus A

We calculate for the nearest active galactic nucleus (AGN), Centaurus A, the flux of high energy cosmic rays and of accompanying secondary photons and neutrinos expected from hadronic interactions in the source. We use as two basic models for the generation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECR) shock acceleration in the radio jet and acceleration in the regular electromagnetic field close to the core of the AGN. While scattering on photons dominates in scenarios with acceleration close to the core, scattering on gas becomes more important if acceleration takes place along the jet. Normalizing the UHECR flux from Centaurus A to the observations of the Auger experiment, the neutrino flux may be marginally observable in a 1 km$^3$ neutrino telescope, if a steep UHECR flux $\d N/\d E\propto E^{-α}$ with $α=2.7$ extends down to $10^{17}$ eV. The associated photon flux is close to or exceeds the observational data of atmospheric Cherenkov and $γ$-ray telescopes for $α\gsim 2$. In particular, we find that already present data favour either a softer UHECR injection spectrum than $α=2.7$ for Centaurus A or a lower UHECR flux than expected from the normalization to the Auger observations.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2008

Role of dense matter in collective supernova neutrino transformations

For neutrinos streaming from a supernova (SN) core, dense matter suppresses self-induced flavor transformations if the electron density n_e significantly exceeds the neutrino density n_nu in the conversion region. If n_e is comparable to n_nu one finds multi-angle decoherence, whereas the standard self-induced transformation behavior requires that in the transformation region n_nu is safely above n_e. This condition need not be satisfied in the early phase after supernova core bounce. Our new multi-angle effect is a subtle consequence of neutrinos traveling on different trajectories when streaming from a source that is not point-like.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

High energy neutrino yields from astrophysical sources II: Magnetized sources

We calculate the yield of high energy neutrinos produced in astrophysical sources for arbitrary interaction depths $τ_0$ and magnetic field strengths $B$. We take into account energy loss processes like synchrotron radiation and diffusion of charged particles in turbulent magnetic fields as well as the scattering of secondaries on background photons and the direct production of charm neutrinos. Meson-photon interactions are simulated with an extended version of the SOPHIA model. Diffusion leads to an increased path-length before protons leave the source of size R_s and therefore magnetized sources lose their transparency below the energy $E\sim 10^{18}{\rm eV} (R_s/{\rm pc}) (B/{\rm mG}) τ_0^{1/α}$, with $α=1/3$ and 1 for Kolmogorov and Bohm diffusion, respectively. Moreover, the neutrino flux is suppressed above the energy where synchrotron energy losses become important for charged particles. As a consequence, the energy spectrum and the flavor composition of neutrinos are strongly modified both at low and high energies even for sources with $τ_0\lsim 1$.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

Identifying the neutrino mass hierarchy with supernova neutrinos

We review how a high-statistics observation of the neutrino signal from a future galactic core-collapse supernova (SN) may be used to discriminate between different neutrino mixing scenarios. Most SN neutrinos are emitted in the accretion and cooling phase, during which the flavor-dependent differences of the emitted neutrino spectra are small and rather uncertain. Therefore the discrimination between neutrino mixing scenarios using these neutrinos should rely on observables independent of the SN neutrino spectra. We discuss two complementary methods that allow for the positive identification of the mass hierarchy without knowledge of the emitted neutrino fluxes, provided that the 13-mixing angle is large, $\sin^2θ_{13}\gg 10^{-5}$. These two approaches are the observation of modulations in the neutrino spectra by Earth matter effects or by the passage of shock waves through the SN envelope. If the value of the 13-mixing angle is unknown, using additionally the information encoded in the prompt neutronization $ν_e$ burst--a robust feature found in all modern SN simulations--can be sufficient to fix both the neutrino hierarchy and to decide whether $θ_{13}$ is ``small'' or ``large.''

hep-ph↗
arXiv2006

High energy neutrino yields from astrophysical sources I: Weakly magnetized sources

We calculate the yield of high energy neutrinos produced in astrophysical sources with negligible magnetic fields varying their interaction depth from nearly transparent to opaque. We take into account the scattering of secondaries on background photons as well as the direct production of neutrinos in decays of charm mesons. If multiple scattering of nucleons becomes important, the neutrino spectra from meson and muon decays are strongly modified with respect to transparent sources. Characteristic for neutrino sources containing photons as scattering targets is a strong energy-dependence of the ratio $R^0$ of $ν_μ$ and $ν_e$ fluxes at the sources, ranging from $R^0=ϕ_μ/ϕ_e\sim 0$ below threshold to $R^0\sim 4$ close to the energy where the decay length of charged pions and kaons equals their interaction length on target photons. Above this energy, the neutrino flux is strongly suppressed and depends mainly on charm production.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2005

Exploiting the neutronization burst of a galactic supernova

One of the robust features found in simulations of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) is the prompt neutronization burst, i.e. the first $\sim 25$ milliseconds after bounce when the SN emits with very high luminosity mainly $ν_e$ neutrinos. We examine the dependence of this burst on variations in the input of current SN models and find that recent improvements of the electron capture rates as well as uncertainties in the nuclear equation of state or a variation of the progenitor mass have only little effect on the signature of the neutronization peak in a megaton water Cherenkov detector for different neutrino mixing schemes. We show that exploiting the time-structure of the neutronization peak allows one to identify the case of a normal mass hierarchy and large 13-mixing angle $θ_{13}$, where the peak is absent. The robustness of the predicted total event number in the neutronization burst makes a measurement of the distance to the SN feasible with a precision of about 5%, even in the likely case that the SN is optically obscured.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Identifying the neutrino mass hierarchy with supernova neutrinos

We review how a high-statistics observation of the neutrino signal from a future galactic core-collapse supernova (SN) may be used to discriminate between different neutrino mixing scenarios. Most SN neutrinos are emitted in the accretion and cooling phase, during which the flavor-dependent differences of the emitted neutrino spectra are small and rather uncertain. Therefore the discrimination between neutrino mixing scenarios using these neutrinos should rely on observables independent of the SN neutrino spectra. We discuss two complementary methods that allow for the positive identification of the mass hierarchy without knowledge of the emitted neutrino fluxes, provided that the 13-mixing angle is large, $\sin^2θ_{13}\gg 10^{-5}$. These two approaches are the observation of modulations in the neutrino spectra by Earth matter effects or by the passage of shock waves through the SN envelope. If the value of the 13-mixing angle is unknown, using additionally the information encoded in the prompt neutronization $ν_e$ burst--a robust feature found in all modern SN simulations--can be sufficient to fix both the neutrino hierarchy and to decide whether $θ_{13}$ is ``small'' or ``large.''

hep-ph↗
arXiv2004

Neutrino signatures of supernova shock and reverse shock propagation

A few seconds after bounce in a core-collapse supernova, the shock wave passes the density region corresponding to resonant neutrino oscillations with the ``atmospheric'' neutrino mass difference. The transient violation of the adiabaticity condition manifests itself in an observable modulation of the neutrino signal from a future galactic supernova. In addition to the shock wave propagation effects that were previously studied, a reverse shock forms when the supersonically expanding neutrino-driven wind collides with the slower earlier supernova ejecta. This implies that for some period the neutrinos pass two subsequent density discontinuities, giving rise to a ``double dip'' feature in the average neutrino energy as a function of time. We study this effect both analytically and numerically and find that it allows one to trace the positions of the forward and reverse shocks. We show that the energy dependent neutrino conversion probabilities allow one to detect oscillations even if the energy spectra of different neutrino flavors are the same as long as the fluxes differ. These features are observable in the \barν_e signal for an inverted and in the ν_e signal for a normal neutrino mass hierarchy, provided the 13-mixing angle is ``large'' (sin^2θ_{13}\gg 10^{-5}).

astro-ph↗
arXiv2003

Signatures of supernova neutrino oscillations in the Earth mantle and core

The Earth matter effects on supernova (SN) neutrinos can be identified at a single detector through peaks in the Fourier transform of their ``inverse energy'' spectrum. The positions of these peaks are independent of the SN models and therefore the peaks can be used as a robust signature of the Earth matter effects, which in turn can distinguish between different neutrino mixing scenarios. Whereas only one genuine peak is observable when the neutrinos traverse only the Earth mantle, traversing also the core gives rise to multiple peaks. We calculate the strengths and positions of these peaks analytically and explore their features at a large scintillation detector as well as at a megaton water Cherenkov detector through Monte Carlo simulations. We propose a simple algorithm to identify the peaks in the actual data and quantify the chances of a peak identification as a function of the location of the SN in the sky.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Supernova pointing with low- and high-energy neutrino detectors

A future galactic SN can be located several hours before the optical explosion through the MeV-neutrino burst, exploiting the directionality of $ν$-$e$-scattering in a water Cherenkov detector such as Super-Kamiokande. We study the statistical efficiency of different methods for extracting the SN direction and identify a simple approach that is nearly optimal, yet independent of the exact SN neutrino spectra. We use this method to quantify the increase in the pointing accuracy by the addition of gadolinium to water, which tags neutrons from the inverse beta decay background. We also study the dependence of the pointing accuracy on neutrino mixing scenarios and initial spectra. We find that in the ``worst case'' scenario the pointing accuracy is $8^\circ$ at 95% C.L. in the absence of tagging, which improves to $3^\circ$ with a tagging efficiency of 95%. At a megaton detector, this accuracy can be as good as $0.6^\circ$. A TeV-neutrino burst is also expected to be emitted contemporaneously with the SN optical explosion, which may locate the SN to within a few tenths of a degree at a future km$^2$ high-energy neutrino telescope. If the SN is not seen in the electromagnetic spectrum, locating it in the sky through neutrinos is crucial for identifying the Earth matter effects on SN neutrino oscillations.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Probing neutrino non-standard interactions with atmospheric neutrino data

We have reconsidered the atmospheric neutrino anomaly in light of the laetst data from Super-Kamiokande contained events and from Super-Kamiokande and MACRO up-going muons. We have reanalysed the proposed solution to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly in terms of non-standard neutrino-matter interactions (NSI) as well as the standard nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations (OSC). Our statistical analysis shows that a pure NSI mechanism is now ruled out at 99%, while the standard nu_mu -> nu_tau OSC mechanism provides a quite remarkably good description of the anomaly. We therefore study an extended mechanism of neutrino propagation which combines both oscillation and non-standard neutrino-matter interactions, in order to derive limits on flavour-changing (FC) and non-universal (NU) neutrino interactions. We obtain that the off-diagonal flavour-changing neutrino parameter epsilon and the diagonal non-universality neutrino parameter epsilon' are confined to -0.03 < epsilon < 0.02 and |epsilon'| < 0.05 at 99.73% CL. These limits are model independent and they are obtained from pure neutrino-physics processes. The stability of the neutrino oscillation solution to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly against the presence of non-standard neutrino interactions establishes the robustness of the near-maximal atmospheric mixing and massive-neutrino hypothesis. The best agreement with the data is obtained for Delta_m^2 = 2.3*10^{-3} eV^2, sin^2(2*theta) = 1, epsilon = 6.7*10^{-3} and epsilon' = 1.1*10^{-3}, although the chi^2 function is quite flat in the epsilon and epsilon' directions for epsilon, epsilon' -> 0.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2002

Probing supernova physics with neutrino oscillations

We point out that solar neutrino oscillations with large mixing angle as evidenced in current solar neutrino data have a strong impact on strategies for diagnosing collapse-driven supernova (SN) through neutrino observations. Such oscillations induce a significant deformation of the energy spectra of neutrinos, thereby allowing us to obtain otherwise inaccessible features of SN neutrino spectra. We demonstrate that one can determine temperatures and luminosities of non-electron flavor neutrinos by observing bar{nu}_{e} from galactic SN in massive water Cherenkov detectors by the charged current reactions on protons.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2002

SN1987A and the Status of Oscillation Solutions to the Solar Neutrino Problem (including an appendix discussing the NC and day/night data from SNO)

We study neutrino oscillations and the level-crossing probability PLZ in power-law potential profiles A(r)\propto r^n. We give local and global adiabaticity conditions valid for all mixing angles theta and discuss different representations for PLZ. For the 1/r^3 profile typical of supernova envelopes we compare our analytical to numerical results and to earlier approximations used in the literature. We then perform a combined likelihood analysis of the observed SN1987A neutrino signal and of the latest solar neutrino data, including the recent SNO CC measurement. We find that, unless all relevant supernova parameters (released binding energy, \barν_e and \barν_{μ,τ} temperatures) are near their lowest values found in simulations, the status of large mixing type solutions deteriorates considerably compared to fits using only solar data. This is sufficient to rule out the vacuum-type solutions for most reasonable choices of astrophysics parameters. The LOW solution may still be acceptable, but becomes worse than the SMA-MSW solution which may, in some cases, be the best combined solution. On the other hand the LMA-MSW solution can easily survive as the best overall solution, although its size is generally reduced when compared to fits to the solar data only.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2001

Generalized Bounds on Majoron-neutrino couplings

We discuss limits on neutrino-Majoron couplings both from laboratory experiments as well as from astrophysics. They apply to the simplest class of Majoron models which covers a variety of possibilities where neutrinos acquire mass either via a seesaw-type scheme or via radiative corrections. By adopting a general framework including CP phases we generalize bounds obtained previously. The combination of complementary bounds enables us to obtain a highly non-trivial exclusion region in the parameter space. We find that the future double beta project GENIUS, together with constraints based on supernova energy release arguments, could restrict neutrino-Majoron couplings down to the 10^{-7} level.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2001

Testing the principle of equivalence by supernova neutrinos

We study the possible impact of the neutrino oscillation which could be induced by a tiny violation of equivalence principle (VEP) for neutrinos emitted from supernova driven by gravitational collapse. Due to the absence of any significant indication of neutrino oscillation in the SN1987A data, we obtain sever bounds on relevant VEP parameters δγ\lsim O(10^{-31}) for massless or degenerated neutrinos and δγ\lsim O(10^{-16})\times [Δm^2/10^{-5} eV^2] for massive neutrinos.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2001

Non-adiabatic level crossing in (non-) resonant neutrino oscillations

We study neutrino oscillations and the level-crossing probability $P_{LZ}=\exp(-γ_n\F_nπ/2)$ in power-law like potential profiles $A(r)\propto r^n$. After showing that the resonance point coincides only for a linear profile with the point of maximal violation of adiabaticity, we point out that the ``adiabaticity'' parameter $γ_n$ can be calculated at an arbitrary point if the correction function $\F_n$ is rescaled appropriately. We present a new representation for the level-crossing probability, $P_{LZ}=\exp(-κ_n\G_n)$, which allows a simple numerical evaluation of $P_{LZ}$ in both the resonant and non-resonant cases and where $\G_n$ contains the full dependence of $P_{LZ}$ on the mixing angle $θ$. As an application we consider the case $n=-3$ important for oscillations of supernova neutrinos.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2001

Large lepton mixing and supernova 1987A

We reconsider the impact of $\barν_e \leftrightarrow \barν_{μ,τ}$ neutrino oscillations on the observed $\barν_e$ signal of supernova SN 1987A. Performing a maximum-likelihood analysis using as fit parameters the released binding energy $\Eb$ and the average neutrino energy $\Ee$, we find as previous analyses that $\barν_e \leftrightarrow \barν_{μ,τ}$ oscillations with large mixing angles have lower best-fit values for $\Ee$ than small-mixing angle (SMA) oscillations. Moreover, the inferred value of $\Ee$ is already in the SMA case lower than those found in simulations. This apparent conflict has been interpreted as evidence against the large mixing oscillation solutions to the solar neutrino problem. In order to quantify the degree to which the experimental data favour the SMA over the large mixing solutions we use their likelihood ratios as well as a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. We find within the range of SN parameters predicted by simulations regions in which the LMA-MSW solution is either only marginally disfavoured or favoured compared to the SMA-MSW solution. We conclude therefore that the LMA-MSW solution is not in conflict with the current understanding of SN physics. In contrast, the vacuum oscillation and the LOW solutions to the solar neutrino problem can be excluded at the $4σ$ level for most of the SN parameter ranges found in simulations. Only a marginal region with low values of $\Ee$, $ $ and $\Eb$ is left over, in which these oscillation solutions can be reconciled with the neutrino signal of SN 1987A.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2000

Supernova Bounds on Majoron-emitting decays of light neutrinos

Neutrino masses arising from the spontaneous violation of ungauged lepton-number are accompanied by a physical Goldstone boson, generically called Majoron. In the high-density supernova medium the effects of Majoron-emitting neutrino decays are important even if they are suppressed in vacuo by small neutrino masses and/or small off-diagonal couplings. We reconsider the influence of these decays on the neutrino signal of supernovae in the light of recent Super-Kamiokande data on solar and atmospheric neutrinos. We find that majoron-neutrino coupling constants in the range $3\times 10^{-7}\lsim g\lsim 2\times 10^{-5}$ or $g \gsim 3 \times 10^{-4}$ are excluded by the observation of SN1987A. Then we discuss the potential of Superkamiokande and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory to detect majoron neutrino interactions in the case of a future galactic supernova. We find that these experiments could probe majoron neutrino interactions with improved sensitivity.

hep-ph↗