The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background

The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB) is the weak glow of MeV neutrinos and antineutrinos from distant core-collapse supernovae. The DSNB has not been detected yet, but the Super-Kamiokande (SK) 2003 upper limit on the electron antineutrino flux is close to predictions, now quite precise, based on astrophysical data. If SK is modified with dissolved gadolinium to reduce detector backgrounds and increase the energy range for analysis, then it should detect the DSNB at a rate of a few events per year, providing a new probe of supernova neutrino emission and the cosmic core-collapse rate. If the DSNB is not detected, then new physics will be required. Neutrino astronomy, while uniquely powerful, has proven extremely difficult -- only the Sun and the nearby Supernova 1987A have been detected to date -- so the promise of detecting new sources soon is exciting indeed.Comment: Submitted to Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Volume 60. 25 pages with 7 figures

Theoretically palatable flavor combinations of astrophysical neutrinos

The flavor composition of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos can reveal the physics governing their production, propagation, and interaction. The IceCube Collaboration has published the first experimental determination of the ratio of the flux in each flavor to the total. We present, as a theoretical counterpart, new results for the allowed ranges of flavor ratios at Earth for arbitrary flavor ratios in the sources. Our results will allow IceCube to more quickly identify when their data imply standard physics, a general class of new physics with arbitrary (incoherent) combinations of mass eigenstates, or new physics that goes beyond that, e.g., with terms that dominate the Hamiltonian at high energy.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures. Matches published versio