Probing axions with the neutrino signal from the next Galactic supernova

Abstract

We study the impact of axion emission in simulations of massive star explosions, as an additional source of energy loss complementary to the standard neutrino emission. The inclusion of this channel shortens the cooling time of the nascent protoneutron star and hence the duration of the neutrino signal. We treat the axion-matter coupling strength as a free parameter to study its impact on the protoneutron star evolution as well as on the neutrino signal. We furthermore analyze the observability of the enhanced cooling in current and next-generation underground neutrino detectors, showing that values of the axion mass m a ≳ 8 × 10 −3 eV can be probed. Therefore a galactic supernova neutrino observation would provide a valuable possibility to probe axion masses in a range within reach of the planned helioscope experiment, the International Axion Observatory.

Supernova constraints on massive (pseudo)scalar coupling to neutrinos

“…Finally, more involved simulations of supernova explosions, including the emission of massive scalars, would be of great interest for constraining such secret interactions, as done for the case of axions in [36]. θ i(f ) is the angles between P and p i (p f ), and the I i functions are defined as follows:…”

Estimating the Sensitivity of IceCube to Signatures of Axionlike Particle Production in a Galactic Supernova

“…Therefore we perform an analysis of simulated data using the SN II neutrino light curve published by Fischer et al [18], which compares an identical explosion with and without axion production in the proto-neutron star. In the following sections we describe the models and the shape analysis used to discriminate the two scenarios.…”

“…With respect to standard astrophysical models, the production of axions in SNe II will create a significant excess of gamma rays [14,15,16] due to ALP-photon oscillations, as well as a significant deficit of neutrinos due to axion cooling (see e.g. [17] and [18]). The extreme luminosity of SNe II means that "gamma appearance" and "neutrino disappearance" measurements in a Galactic supernova can be used to achieve order-of-magnitude improvements in limits on the mass and coupling strength of axions and ALPs [16,19].…”

“…The extreme luminosity of SNe II means that "gamma appearance" and "neutrino disappearance" measurements in a Galactic supernova can be used to achieve order-of-magnitude improvements in limits on the mass and coupling strength of axions and ALPs [16,19]. Observations of a neutrino deficit are of particular interest because they are uniquely sensitive to the coupling of axions to nucleons [18,20].…”

IAXO, next-generation of helioscopes

“…Stars have provided a unique and extremely successful laboratory to study axions and ALPs, leading throughout the years to strong constraints on their couplings to photons [22,23,24] electrons [29], and nucleons [30,31]. More intriguingly, several independent observations of the cooling of different stellar systems seem to agree with the need for a novel cooling mechanism, such as the one provided by axions or ALPs, in addition to the standard astrophysical processes (see M.Giannotti's contribution to these proceedings).…”