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Abstract |
Neutrinos have played a key role in astrophysics, from the characterization of
nuclear fusion processes in the Sun to the observation of supernova SN1987A and
multiple extragalactic events. The Super-Kamiokande experiment has played a major
part in past in these astrophysical studies by investigating low energy O(10)~MeV
neutrinos, and currently exhibits the best sensitivity to the diffuse neutrino
background from distant supernovae. Discovering and characterizing this elusive
signal would represent a major breakthrough in astrophysics but also requires
state-of-the-art background removal techniques targeting cosmic muon spallation
and atmospheric neutrinos. Even in case of an observation, extracting meaningful
information about the mechanism of core-collapse supernovae and the history of
star formation from a single neutrino spectrum will be a significant challenge.
Here, I present an overview of the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino
background in Super-Kamiokande and discuss how this signal can be characterized in
future experiments, notably in the SuperK-Gd upgrade. |
