Determining the distance of stellar collapses through the beta-inverse channel of the LVD neutrino telescope

• Grant number: 11/18673-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2011
• End date: November 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Ernesto Kemp
• Grantee: Leônidas Augusto Fernandes Do Prado
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

There is a consensus both in theoretical and experimental basis, coming from observations of the SN1987A, that a supernova explosion is preceded by a huge flux of neutrinos from the three flavors and also of their antiparticles. Large neutrino telescopes are able to disentangle the neutrino burst signal from the background fluctuations, and their current dimensions enable a data sample to be collected big enough to build the Neutrino Energy Spectrum. We are studying this method to determine the distance from the collapsing star, using only the information of the spectral shape from expected antinu-e events on neutrino telescopes, such as the LVD at the Laboratorio Nazionale del Gran Sasso - Italy, and assumptions on the total binding energy of the stellar core released in the collapsing process. In this project we focus the discussion on the errors of the method related to the theoretical uncertainties concerning the energy released in the formation of the compact object from the collapsing process. Supernova neutrinos play an important role in Astroparticle Physics, because of its potential as a "probe" of the inner star, in particular in regions where no other type of radiation can escape. (AU)