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Neutrino temperatures and fluxes from the LMC supernova

Abstract

The observation1,2of neutrinos from the LMC supernova makes possible direct tests of the theory of supernova explosions and of properties of weakly interacting particles. Here we describe a combined analysis of the angular and energy distributions of the events observed in the Kamiokande and the 1MB detectors which determines the effective temperatures and fluxes of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos* produced by the explosion. Our main result is that a simple model is consistent with the available data and in reasonable agreement with conventional models of supernova explosions. The parameters of the model are: a single temperature, T, of 4.1+1.0−0.4 MeV, a flux of electron anti-neutrinos of (O.5-0.35+0.2)×1010cm−2 [total energy in v̄e = (3.0+1.7−1.4 × 1052 erg)], and a poorly determined flux of 'scattered' (see below) neutrinos = (0.2–5)× 1010 cm−2. Several statistical tests were used to determine the acceptable range of these parameters. We have also set limits on possible high-temperature fluxes of neutrinos or anti-neutrinos that might result from matter oscillations3,4

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Bahcall, J., Piran, T., Press, W. et al. Neutrino temperatures and fluxes from the LMC supernova. Nature 327, 682–685 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/327682a0

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