Relic neutrino background from cosmological supernovae

Abstract

Present and future observations of supernova relic neutrinos (SRNs), i.e., a cosmological neutrino background from past core-collapse supernova explosions, potentially give us useful information concerning various fields of astrophysics, cosmology and particle physics. We review recent progress of theoretical and observational studies of SRNs, particularly focusing on the detectability and also on implications for cosmic star formation history and neutrino physics.

Comments: 29 pages, 8 figures, minor revision; review article accepted by New Journal of Physics, focus issue on neutrino physics