MeV, GeV and TeV Neutrinos from Binary-Driven Hypernovae

Abstract

We analyze neutrino emission channels in energetic (≳1052 erg) long gamma-ray bursts within the binary-driven hypernova model. The binary-driven hypernova progenitor is a binary system composed of a carbon-oxygen star and a neutron star (NS) companion. The gravitational collapse leads to a type Ic supernova (SN) explosion and triggers an accretion process onto the NS. For orbital periods of a few minutes, the NS reaches the critical mass and forms a black hole (BH). Two physical situations produce MeV neutrinos. First, during the accretion, the NS surface emits neutrino–antineutrino pairs by thermal production. We calculate the properties of such a neutrino emission, including flavor evolution. Second, if the angular momentum of the SN ejecta is high enough, an accretion disk might form around the BH. The disk’s high density and temperature are ideal for MeV-neutrino production. We estimate the flavor evolution of electron and non-electron neutrinos and find that neutrino oscillation inside the disk leads to flavor equipartition. This effect reduces (compared to assuming frozen flavor content) the energy deposition rate of neutrino–antineutrino annihilation into electron–positron (e+e−) pairs in the BH vicinity. We then analyze the production of GeV-TeV neutrinos around the newborn black hole. The magnetic field surrounding the BH interacts with the BH gravitomagnetic field producing an electric field that leads to spontaneous e+e− pairs by vacuum breakdown. The e+e− plasma self-accelerates due to its internal pressure and engulfs protons during the expansion. The hadronic interaction of the protons in the expanding plasma with the ambient protons leads to neutrino emission via the decay chain of π-meson and μ-lepton, around and far from the black hole, along different directions. These neutrinos have energies in the GeV-TeV regime, and we calculate their spectrum and luminosity. We also outline the detection probability by some current and future neutrino detectors.

Keywords

• neutrino physics
• neutrino oscillations
• binary-driven hypernovae