The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background is detectable in Super-Kamiokande

Understand

The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB) provides an immediate opportunity to study the emission of MeV thermal neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae.

• The DSNB is a powerful probe of stellar and neutrino physics, provided that the core-collapse rate is large enough and that its uncertainty is small enough.
• To assess the important physics enabled by the DSNB, we start with the cosmic star formation history of Hopkins & Beacom (2006) and confirm its normalization and evolution by cross-checks with the supernova rate, extragalactic background light, and stellar mass density.
• We find a sufficient core-collapse rate with small uncertainties that translate into a variation of +/- 40% in the DSNB event spectrum.