2024/01/02 by Pierluca Carenza, G. Co’, Maurizio Giannotti +4 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Neutrino Physics Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
paper · doi:10.1103/physrevc.109.015501
openalex publication_date 2024/01/02 · openalex created_date 2024/01/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Axions coupled to nucleons might be copiously emitted from core-collapse supernovae (SNe). If the axion-nucleon coupling is strong enough, then axions would be emitted from the SN as a burst and, reaching Earth, may excite the oxygen nuclei in water \ifmmode \checkC\else \vC\fiherenkov detectors (16O+a\ensuremath→16O*). This process will be followed by decay(s) of the excited state resulting in an emission of photons and thus providing a possibility for a direct detection of axions from a galactic SN in large underground neutrino \ifmmode \checkC\else \vC\fiherenkov detectors. Motivated by this possibility, we present an updated calculation of axion-oxygen cross section obtained by using self-consistent continuum random-phase approximation. We calculate the branching ratio of the oxygen nucleus deexcitation into \ensuremathγ rays, neutrons, protons, and \ensuremathα particles and also consider photon emission from secondary nuclei to compute a total \ensuremathγ spectrum created when axions excite 16O. These results are used to revisit the detectability of axions from SN 1987A in Kamiokande-II.