Evolution of Tau-Neutrino Lepton Number in Protoneutron Stars due to Active-Sterile Neutrino Mixing

N3AS-23-013

Evolution of Tau-Neutrino Lepton Number in Protoneutron Stars due to Active-Sterile Neutrino Mixing

Anupam Ray, Yong-Zhong Qian.

14 Jun 2023.

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Abstract

We present an approximate treatment of the mixing between $\nu_{\tau}$ ( $\bar\nu_{\tau}$ ) and a sterile species $\nu_s$ ( $\bar\nu_s$ ) with a vacuum mass-squared difference of $\sim$ 10²-10³ keV² in protoneutron stars created in core-collapse supernovae. Including production of sterile neutrinos through both resonant flavor conversion and collisions, we track the evolution of the $\nu_{\tau}$ lepton number due to both escape of sterile neutrinos and diffusion. Our approach provides a reasonable treatment of the pertinent processes discussed in previous studies and serves a pedagogical purpose to elucidate the relevant physics. We also discuss refinements needed to study more accurately how flavor mixing with sterile neutrinos affects protoneutron star evolution.