Neutrino signatures of supernova forward and reverse shock propagation

Abstract

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 flavours are the same as long as the fluxes differ. These features are observable in the ν̅_ε signal for an inverted and in the ν_ε signal for a normal neutrino mass hierarchy, provided the 13-mixing angle is 'large' (sin²ϑ₁₃≫10^-5).