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Energy Transfer by Feebly Interacting Particles in Supernovae: The Trapping Regime

Damiano F. G. Fiorillo1,*, Tetyana Pitik2,3,†, and Edoardo Vitagliano4,5,‡

  • *Contact author: damianofg@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: tetyana.pitik@berkeley.edu
  • ‡Contact author: edoardo.vitagliano@unipd.it
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 071005 – Published 15 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cz94-dqxt

Abstract

Feebly interacting particles, such as sterile neutrinos, dark photons, and axions, can be abundantly produced in the proto-neutron star (PNS) formed in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). These particles can decay into photons or charged leptons, depositing energy outside the PNS. Strong bounds on new particles can thus be derived from the observed luminosity of CCSNe, with even tighter bounds obtained from low-energy SNe observations. For the first time we highlight that, at sufficiently large couplings, particle production outside the PNS must also be considered. Using the prototypical case of axions coupling to two photons, we show that at large couplings the energy transfer from PNS to its surroundings is diffusive rather than ballistic, substantially reducing the deposited energy. Our findings have implications for the parameter space of particles probed in beam dump experiments and for dark matter models involving a sub-GeV mediator.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 071005– Published 15 August, 2025
  • Received 27 March 2025
  • Revised 12 June 2025
  • Accepted 28 July 2025
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