Prospects for the Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with the Experiments SK-Gd and JUNO
Yu-Feng Li,
Mark Vagins,
Michael Wurm
Affiliations
Yu-Feng Li
Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Mark Vagins
Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8583, Chiba, Japan
Michael Wurm
Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA<sup>+</sup>, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, D-55128 Mainz, Germany
The advent of gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande (SK-Gd) and of the soon-to-start JUNO liquid scintillator detector marks a substantial improvement in global sensitivity for the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB). The present article reviews the detector properties most relevant for the DSNB searches in both experiments and estimates the expected signal and background levels. Based on these inputs, we evaluate the sensitivity of both experiments individually and combined. Using a simplified statistical approach, we find that both SK-Gd and JUNO have the potential to reach >3σ evidence of the DSNB signal within 10 years of measurement. Combination of their results is likely to enable a 5σ discovery of the DSNB signal within the next decade.
