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IAP-Intern
IAP - High-Energy Universe Group Seminar -- SS2026 (Nora Valtonen-Mattila -- Next Galactic Supernova) (14/17)
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Europe/Berlin
206 (KIT CN Bld 425)
206
KIT CN Bld 425
Description
SS 2026
Nora Valtonen-Mattila
RU Bochum
"The Next Galactic Supernova: A Multi-Messenger Window into Stellar Collapse and New Physics"
abstract:
When the next star in our Galaxy collapses, it will release a wide array of messengers: a burst of MeV neutrinos carrying away most of the star's gravitational binding energy, gravitational waves, electromagnetic emission across the spectrum, and possibly high-energy neutrinos from jets or shock interactions, together with the potential to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. Because most of the explosion's energy is carried by MeV neutrinos, they provide our most direct probe of the collapse itself. Even the few dozen neutrinos detected from SN 1987A significantly advanced our understanding of stellar collapse. With current detectors, a Galactic event would yield orders of magnitude more data, enabling considerably deeper physics studies. Since the MeV neutrino burst emerges before any electromagnetic signal, it will provide the earliest possible alert, enabling rapid localization and allowing the astronomy community to observe electromagnetic signatures during stages that would otherwise remain inaccessible.
In this talk, I will discuss how this neutrino signal can be detected and interpreted, with a focus on IceCube and the fast-alert infrastructure of the Supernova Early Warning System (SNEWS), which coordinates detectors worldwide to provide the earliest possible community-wide alert. I will highlight what can be learned from neutrinos alone, as well as the additional insights gained by combining neutrinos, photons, and gravitational waves, including constraints on the explosion mechanism and, more broadly, the physics of the collapsing core. I will also discuss how a Galactic supernova offers a unique opportunity for direct searches for new physics, focusing on axion-like particles that couple to matter as a case study.