Nonconservation of Lepton Numbers in the Neutrino Sector Could Change the Prospects for Core Collapse Supernova Explosions
We show that interactions violating the conservation of lepton numbers in the neutrino sector could significantly alter the standard low entropy picture for the presupernova collapsing core of a massive star. A rapid neutrino-antineutrino equilibration leads to entropy generation and enhanced electron capture and, hence, a lower electron fraction than in the standard model. This would affect the downstream core evolution, the prospects for a supernova explosion, and the emergent neutrino signal. If realized by lepton-number-violating neutrino self-interactions (LNV νSI), the relevant mediator mass and coupling ranges can be probed by future accelerator-based experiments.
Authors
- Julien Froustey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6466-8232)
- Patrick Chi-Kit Cheong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1449-3363)
- George M. Fuller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9716-9552)
- Oliver Scholer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0337-1486)
- Shashank Shalgar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2937-6525)
- Kyle S. Kehrer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8714-1599)
- Lukáš Gráf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6181-9210)
- Karl J. Friston
Institutions
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of New Hampshire at Manchester (US)
- Charles University (CZ)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- National Institute for Subatomic Physics (NL)
- Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (DE)
- New York University (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-05-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/gnp5-4y8k
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Neutrino Physics Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.61
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Univerzita Karlova v Praze
- Villum Fonden
- Heising-Simons Foundation
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond
- University of California, San Diego