Muonization of supernova matter

Abstract

The present article investigates the impact of muons on core-collapse supernovae, with particular focus on the early muon neutrino emission. While the presence of muons is well understood in the context of neutron stars, until the recent study by Bollig et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 242702 (2017)] the role of muons in core-collapse supernovae had been neglected - electrons and neutrinos were the only leptons considered. In their study, Bollig~et~al. disentangled the muon and tau neutrinos and antineutrinos and included a variety of muonic weak reactions, all of which the present paper follows closely. Only then does it becomes possible to quantify the appearance of muons shortly before stellar core bounce and how the post-bounce prompt neutrino emission is modified.