Supernova neutrino halo and the suppression of self-induced flavor conversion

Abstract

Neutrinos streaming from a supernova (SN) core occasionally scatter in the envelope, producing a small "neutrino halo" with a much broader angle distribution than the primary flux originating directly from the core. Cherry et al. (2012) have recently pointed out that, during the accretion phase, the halo actually dominates neutrino-neutrino refraction at distances exceeding some 100 km. However, the multiangle matter effect (which increases if the angle distribution is broader) still appears to suppress self-induced flavor conversion during the accretion phase.

Comments: related to our previous PRL 108 (2012) 061101 [arXiv:1109.3601]; v2 with appendix on analytic treatment of halo, matches the published version