Observing supernova neutrino light curve in future dark matter detectors

Abstract

The possibility of observing supernova (SN) neutrinos through the process of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CENNS) in future ton scale detectors designed primarily for direct detection of dark matter is investigated. In particular, we focus on the possibility of distinguishing the various phases of the SN neutrino emission. The neutrino emission rates from the recent long-term Basel/Darmstadt simulations are used to calculate the expected event rates. The recent state-of-the-art SN simulations predict closer fluxes among different neutrino flavors and lower average energies compared to the earlier simulation models. The estimated total event rates are found to be typically a factor of 2 lower than those predicted using older simulation models. We find that future 1-ton class Xe detectors will be able to detect neutrinos from a SN at a distance of 10 kpc provided they have relatively low nuclear recoil energy thresholds of $\ensuremath{\lesssim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{keV}$. At the same time, with an optimistic threshold of $\ensuremath{\sim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{keV}$, demarcating the neutrinos associated with the accretion phase of a SN at 10 kpc from the Earth will require 10-ton class Xe detectors, while distinguishing the neutrinos associated with the neutronization burst phase of the explosion would typically require several tens of ton detectors. We also comment on the possibility of studying the properties of nonelectron flavor neutrinos from the CENNS of SN neutrinos.