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Standard Candles for Supernova Neutrino Detection at DUNE
Preprint   Open access

Standard Candles for Supernova Neutrino Detection at DUNE

Ting Cheng, Matheus Hostert, Pedro A. N Machado, Nityasa Mishra and Adrian Thompson
ArXiv.org
Cornell University
06/16/2026
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2606.18337
url
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2606.18337View
Preprint (Author's original) This preprint has not been evaluated by subject experts through peer review. Preprints may undergo extensive changes and/or become peer-reviewed journal articles. Open Access

Abstract

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) far detector is sensitive to𝓞(10)MeV electron neutrinos throughνₑcharged-current reaction with argon. This capability is a unique window into theνₑcomponent of a Galactic core-collapse supernova flux. Extracting the properties of the supernova spectrum is, however, limited by the poorly-knownνₑ -Ar cross section. We propose a data-driven strategy that leverages⁸ B solar neutrinos and muon-decay-at-rest neutrinos as standard candles for this process. These calibration samples constrain both the low-energy and high-energy components of the cross section relevant for supernova detection. Our method reduces the reliance on nuclear models, which can bias the extraction of the spectral parameters by as much as 300 % .
Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment Physics - High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

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