X-rays, γ-rays and neutrinos from collisionless shocks in supernova wind breakouts

Abstract

Some of the observed bursts of X-rays/Gamma-rays associated with supernovae (SNe) as well as very luminous SNe may result from the breakout of the SN shock from an optically thick wind surrounding the progenitor. We show that in such scenarios a collisionless shock necessarily forms during the shock breakout. An intense non-thermal flash of ≲1 MeV gamma rays, hard X-rays and multi-TeV neutrinos is produced simultaneously with and following the typical soft X-ray breakout emission, carrying similar or larger energy than the soft emission. The non-thermal flash is detectable by current X-ray telescopes and may be detectable out to 10's of Mpc by km-scale neutrino telescopes. © 2012 International Astronomical Union.