Future galactic supernova neutrino signal: What can we learn?

The next supernova in our galaxy will be detected by a variety of neutrino detectors. In this lecture I discuss the set of observables needed to constrain the models of supernova neutrino emission. They are the flux normalizations, and average energies, of each of the three expected components of the neutrino flux: $\nu_e$, $\bar{\nu}_e$, and $\nu_x$ (all the other four flavors combined). I show how the existing, or soon to be operational, neutrino detectors will be able to determine the magnitude of these observables, and estimate the corresponding rates.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Talk at the School `Neutrinos in Astro, Particle and Nuclear Physics', Erice, September 18-26, 200

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

Supernova Neutrino Detection

World-wide, several detectors currently running or nearing completion are sensitive to a core collapse supernova neutrino signal in the Galaxy. I will briefly describe the nature of the neutrino signal and then survey current and future detection techniques. I will also explore what physics and astrophysics we can learn from the next Galactic core collapse.Comment: For the Proceedings of Neutrino 2000 - the X1X International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics. 7 pages, 1 figur

Neutrino Properties from High Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos

It is shown that high energy neutrino beams from very distant sources can beutilized to learn about some properties fof neutrinos such as lifetimes and mass hierarchy etc. Furthermore, even mixing elements such as U-e3 and the CPV phase can be measured in principle. Pseudo-Dirac mass differences as small as 10^-18 eV^2 can be probed as well.Comment: 13 pages. Presented at the PASCOS'04 and Nath-Fest, august 16-22, 2004, Boston, to be published in the proceeding