Detectable MeV neutrinos from black hole neutrino-dominated accretion flows

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Publication Title

Physical Review D

Volume

93

Issue

12

Abstract

Neutrino-dominated accretion flows (NDAFs) around rotating stellar-mass black holes (BHs) have been theorized as the central engine of relativistic jets launched in massive star core collapse events or compact star mergers. In this work, we calculate the electron neutrino/antineutrino spectra of NDAFs by fully taking into account the general relativistic effects, and investigate the effects of viewing angle, BH spin, and mass accretion rate on the results. We show that even though a typical NDAF has a neutrino luminosity lower than that of a typical supernova (SN), it can reach 1050-1051 erg s-1 peaking at ∼10 MeV, making NDAFs potentially detectable with the upcoming sensitive MeV neutrino detectors if they are close enough to Earth. Based on the observed gamma-ray burst (GRB) event rate in the local universe and requiring that at least three neutrinos are detected to claim a detection, we estimate a detection rate up to ∼(0.10-0.25) per century for GRB-related NDAFs by the Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) detector if one neglects neutrino oscillation. If one assumes that all type Ib/c SNe have an engine-driven NDAF, the Hyper-K detection rate would be ∼(1-3) per century. By considering neutrino oscillations, the detection rate may decrease by a factor of 2-3. Detecting one such event would establish the observational evidence of NDAFs in the Universe. © 2016 American Physical Society.

Language

English

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