High-energy neutrino and gamma-ray transients from trans-relativistic supernova shock breakouts

Abstract

Relativistic shocks that accompany supernovae (SNe) produce X-ray burst emissions as they break out in the dense circumstellar medium around the progenitors. This phenomenon is sometimes associated with peculiar low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (LL GRBs). Here, we investigate the high energy neutrino and gamma-ray counterparts of such a class of SNe. Just beyond the shock breakout radius, particle acceleration in the collisionless shock starts to operate in the presence of breakout photons. We show that protons may be accelerated to sufficiently high energies and produce high energy neutrinos and gamma rays via the photomeson interaction. These neutrinos and gamma rays may be detectable from 10 Mpc away by IceCube/KM3Net as multi-TeV transients almost simultaneously with the X-ray burst emission, and even from 100 Mpc away with follow-up observations by CTA using a wide-field sky monitor like Swift as a trigger. A statistical technique using a stacking approach could also be possible for the detection, with the aid of the SN optical/infrared counterparts. Such multi-messenger observations offer the possibility to probe the transition of relativistic shocks from radiation-mediated to collisionless ones, and would also constrain the mechanisms of particle acceleration and emission in LL GRBs.