Neutrinos from an exploding star

Abstract: The life of a massive star ends when the iron core collapses into a neutron star. The dazzling spectacle visible in an optical telescope represents only 0.01% of the energy of the core-collapse; 99% of the energy is emitted in the form of neutrinos of different flavours. The HALO detector in SNOLAB, and the future HALO-1kT detector in the Gran Sasso laboratory, will be uniquely sensitive to the electron-type neutrinos. I will describe the stages of the supernova explosion and how a world-wide network of neutrino detectors will give us real-time information on various nuclear and particle processes that occur deep in the bowels of the exploding star.

Stanley Yen obtained his PhD in nuclear physics from the University of Toronto in 1983 and has been a research scientist at TRIUMF since that time. He has worked on a variety of experiments in nuclear and particle physics at TRIUMF, at DESY in Germany, and at KEK and JPARC in Japan. Most recently he helped to build the HALO supernova neutrino detector in SNOLAB and is now working on the design of a future supernova detector in Italy.