Theoretical Prediction of Presupernova Neutrinos and Their Detection

Abstract

More than 30 years have passed since the successful detection of supernova (SN) neutrinos from SN 1987A. In the last few decades, remarkable progress has been made in neutrino detection techniques, through which it may be possible to detect neutrinos from a new source, presupernova (pre-SN) neutrinos. They are emitted from a massive star prior to core bounce. Because neutrinos escape from the core freely, they carry information about the stellar physics directly. Pre-SN neutrinos may play an important role in verifying our understanding of stellar evolution for massive stars. Observation of pre-SN neutrinos, moreover, may serve as an alarm regarding an SN explosion a few days in advance if the progenitor is located in our vicinity, enabling us to observe the next galactic SN. In this review, we summarize the current status of pre-SN neutrino studies from both the theoretical and observational points of view.