Prospective Constraints on Neutrino Masses from a Core-Collapse Supernova

John Ellis, Hans-Thomas Janka, Nikolaos E. Mavromatos, Alexander S. Sakharov, Edward K. G. Sarkisyan

Published 2012-02-01, updated 2012-04-13Version 3

We discuss the prospects for improved upper limits on neutrino masses that may be provided by a core-collapse supernova explosion in our galaxy, if it exhibits time variations in the neutrino emissions on the scale of a few milliseconds as suggested by recent two-dimensional simulations. Analyzing simulations of such neutrino emissions using the wavelet technique adopted in [1], we find that an upper limit m_nu ~ 0.14 eV could be established at the 95% confidence level if the time variations in emissions were to be preserved during neutrino propagation to the Earth.