Abstract
We investigate matter-enhanced Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) active-sterile neutrino conversion in the channel in the collapse of the iron core of a presupernova star. For values of sterile neutrino rest mass and vacuum mixing angle (specifically, and ) which include those required for viable sterile neutrino dark matter, our one-zone in-fall phase collapse calculations show a significant reduction in core lepton fraction. This would result in a smaller homologous core and therefore a smaller initial shock energy, disfavoring successful shock reheating and the prospects for an explosion. However, these calculations also suggest that the MSW resonance energy can exhibit a minimum located between the center and surface of the core. In turn, this suggests a post-core-bounce mechanism to enhance neutrino transport and neutrino luminosities at the core surface and thereby augment shock reheating: (1) scattering-induced or coherent MSW conversion occurs deep in the core, at the first MSW resonance, where energies are large (); (2) the high energy stream outward at near light speed; (3) they deposit their energy when they encounter the second MSW resonance just below the proto-neutron star surface.
2 More- Received 14 September 2006
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.74.125015
©2006 American Physical Society