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Title: Neutrino mass hierarchy and three-flavor spectral splits of supernova neutrinos

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
 [1]; ;  [2];  [1]
  1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut), Foehringer Ring 6, 80805 Muenchen (Germany)
  2. II Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany)

It was recently realized that three-flavor effects could peculiarly modify the development of spectral splits induced by collective oscillations, for supernova neutrinos emitted during the cooling phase of a protoneutron star. We systematically explore this case, explaining how the impact of these three-flavor effects depends on the ordering of the neutrino masses. In inverted mass hierarchy, the solar mass splitting gives rise to instabilities in regions of the (anti)neutrino energy spectra that were otherwise stable under the leading two-flavor evolution governed by the atmospheric mass splitting and by the 1-3 mixing angle. As a consequence, the high-energy spectral splits found in the electron (anti)neutrino spectra disappear, and are transferred to other flavors. Imperfect adiabaticity leads to smearing of spectral swap features. In normal mass hierarchy, the three-flavor and the two-flavor instabilities act in the same region of the neutrino energy spectrum, leading to only minor departures from the two-flavor treatment.

OSTI ID:
21409924
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 81, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.81.093008; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English