Standard Candles for Supernova Neutrino Detection at DUNE

Abstract

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) far detector is sensitive to $\mathcal{O}(10)$ MeV electron neutrinos through ${\nu }_e$ charged-current reaction with argon. This capability is a unique window into the ${\nu }_e$ component of a Galactic core-collapse supernova flux. Extracting the properties of the supernova spectrum is, however, limited by the poorly-known ${\nu }_e$-Ar cross section. We propose a data-driven strategy that leverages ${}^8$B solar neutrinos and muon-decay-at-rest neutrinos as standard candles for this process. These calibration samples constrain both the low-energy and high-energy components of the cross section relevant for supernova detection. Our method reduces the reliance on nuclear models, which can bias the extraction of the spectral parameters by as much as 300$\%$.

Comments: 9 pages, 3 figures. Please also see today's complementary study by Hajjar, Nairat, and Beacom