Description
In 2020, the Super-Kamiokande (SK) experiment entered in a new phase, SK-Gd, in which 0.02% of gadolinium sulfate was loaded to the water in the detector, improving the identification of neutrons emitted in inverse beta decay reactions and, therefore, improving SK’s sensitivity to low energy electron anti-neutrinos. SK-Gd has the potential of detecting yet-unobserved neutrinos coming from massive stars at the last evolutionary stage before core-collapse supernova (CCSN), known as pre-supernova stars. During this stage, pair annihilation and beta decay processes are the main cooling mechanisms of these stars, emitting high fluxes of electron anti-neutrinos, which detection could provide early warnings for CCSNs. From October 2021, a new supernova alarm based on the detection of pre-supernova neutrinos has been running in Super-Kamiokande. We report the sensitivity of Super-Kamiokande to pre-supernova neutrinos and details about the new alert system based on their detection.
| Collaboration | Super-Kamiokande Collaboration |
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