Supernova cooling from neutrinophilic dark matter

Abstract

Core-collapse supernova serve as a powerful laboratory for testing physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), particularly regarding new, light states interacting feebly with SM particles. In this work, we investigate for the first time the production of dark matter (DM) via the neutrino-neutrino scattering processes inside a core-collapse supernova, which contributes to the excessive cooling. By incorporating state-of-the-art supernova simulation data , we derive stringent and robust limits on sub-GeV dark matter with effective couplings to neutrinos. We find that the existing and projected constraints from indirect detection are quite weak. Our supernova cooling bounds on DM-neutrino reference cross section can improve indirect detection limits more than ten orders of magnitude for DM masses below $\mathcal{O}(100)$ MeV, and it can also provide strong complementarity with other cosmological constraints. Our results highlight the exceptional sensitivity of core-collapse supernova to feebly interacting particles and motivate future supernova neutrino observations as a powerful probe of light dark sectors.