Neutrino Emission From Stars

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Over the next decade, neutrino astronomy will probe the rich astrophysics of neutrino production in the sky. Neutrinos, which are very light subatomic particles with low levels of interaction with matter, are difficult to detect, but are important probes for astronomy since they can be traced directly back to their origin without having interacted with intervening material. In addition to neutrinos from the Sun, core-collapse supernova (SN) bursts (e.g., SN 1987A) and relativistic jets (e.g., blazar TXS 0506+056) technological improvements in detector masses, energy resolution, and background abatement will allow observation of new signals from different stages of the lifecycle of stars, in particular pre-supernova neutrinos, the diffuse supernova neutrino background, and neutrinos from matter-rich binary mergers. Ultimately, the goal will be to observationally test neutrino production across the entire Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which graphically represents the full population and life cycle of stars. A research group at Arizona State University will study neutrino production in stars and will embed its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices into its everyday research activities, through a complete program of training and mentoring a graduate student. To reach the goals of the project, a suite of stellar evolution models, spanning a wide range of initial masses, will be used to analyze the impact of the initial stellar composition, helium burning nuclear reaction rates, and neutral current de-excitation physics on the thermal and nuclear components of the total neutrino luminosity. The results of the research project provide targets for current generation neutrino telescopes that can now detect pre-supernova neutrinos, and provides new predictions for individual stars and for stars collectively as the stellar neutrino background signal. This project advances the goals of the NSF Windows on the Universe Big Idea.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.