Neutrinos from Type Ia and Failed Core-Collapse Supernovae at Dark Matter Detectors

Abstract

Neutrinos produced in the hot and dense interior of the next galactic supernova would be visible at dark matter experiments in coherent elastic nuclear recoils. While studies on this channel have focused on successful core-collapse supernovae, a thermonuclear (type Ia) explosion, or a core collapse that fails to explode and forms a black hole, are as likely to occur as the next galactic supernova event. I show that generation-3 noble liquid-based dark matter experiments such as darwin and argo, operating at sub-keV thresholds with ionization-only signals, would distinguish between (a) leading hypotheses of type Ia explosion mechanisms by detecting an O(1) s burst of O(1) MeV neutrinos, and (b) progenitor models of failed supernovae by detecting an O(1) s burst of O(10) MeV neutrinos, especially by marking the instant of black hole formation from abrupt stoppage of neutrino detection. This detection is sensitive to all neutrino flavors and insensitive to neutrino oscillations, thereby making measurements complementary to neutrino experiments.