Search for supernova neutrino bursts at super-kamiokande

Abstract

The result of a search for neutrino bursts from supernova explosions using the Super- Kamiokande detector is reported. Super-Kamiokande is sensitive to core-collapse supernova explosions. The expected number of events comprising such a burst is ∼ 104 and the average energy of the neutrinos is in few tens of MeV range in the case of a core-collapse supernova explosion at the typical distance in our galaxy (10 kiloparsecs). The detection efficiency anywhere within our galaxy and well past the Magellanic Clouds is obtained as 100%. We examined a data set which was taken from May, 1996 to July, 2001 and from December, 2002 to October, 2005 corresponding to 2589.2 live days. However, there is no evidence of such a supernova explosion during the data-taking period. The 90% C.L. upper limit on the rate of core-collapse supernova explosions out to distances of 100 kiloparsecs is found to be 0.32 SN · year-1.