Impact of Dark Photon Emission on Massive Star Evolution and Pre-Supernova Neutrino Signal. (arXiv:2101.08672v1 [astro-ph.SR])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sieverding_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Sieverding</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rrapaj_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">E. Rrapaj</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Guo_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. Guo</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Qian_Y/0/1/0/all/0/1">Y.-Z. Qian</a>

We study the effects of additional cooling due to the emission of a dark
matter candidate particle, the dark photon, on the final phases of the
evolution of a $15,M_odot$ star and resulting modifications of the
pre-supernova neutrino signal. For a substantial portion of the dark photon
parameter space the extra cooling speeds up Si burning, which results in a
reduced number of neutrinos emitted during the last day before core collapse.
This reduction can be described by a systematic acceleration of the relevant
timescales and the results can be estimated semi-analytically in good agreement
with the numerical simulations. Outside the semi-analytic regime we find more
complicated effects. In a narrow parameter range, low-mass dark photons lead to
an increase of the number of emitted neutrinos because of additional shell
burning episodes that delay core collapse. Furthermore, relatively strong
couplings produce a thermonuclear runaway during O burning, which could result
in a complete disruption of the star but requires more detailed simulations to
determine the outcome. Our results show that pre-supernova neutrino signals are
a potential probe of the dark photon parameter space.

We study the effects of additional cooling due to the emission of a dark
matter candidate particle, the dark photon, on the final phases of the
evolution of a $15,M_odot$ star and resulting modifications of the
pre-supernova neutrino signal. For a substantial portion of the dark photon
parameter space the extra cooling speeds up Si burning, which results in a
reduced number of neutrinos emitted during the last day before core collapse.
This reduction can be described by a systematic acceleration of the relevant
timescales and the results can be estimated semi-analytically in good agreement
with the numerical simulations. Outside the semi-analytic regime we find more
complicated effects. In a narrow parameter range, low-mass dark photons lead to
an increase of the number of emitted neutrinos because of additional shell
burning episodes that delay core collapse. Furthermore, relatively strong
couplings produce a thermonuclear runaway during O burning, which could result
in a complete disruption of the star but requires more detailed simulations to
determine the outcome. Our results show that pre-supernova neutrino signals are
a potential probe of the dark photon parameter space.

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