Flash from the Past: New Gamma-Ray Constraints on Light CP-even Scalar from SN1987A
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
2026-03-10 v1 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract
We derive new constraints on light CP-even scalars using old gamma-ray observations in the direction of SN1987A by the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite. Light scalars can be abundantly produced in the supernova core via the nucleon bremsstrahlung process, can stream out of the supernova-environment and decay into photons -- either primary photons or secondary photons from lepton-antilepton pairs -- thus leading to a gamma-ray signal. From the non-observation of excess photon flux by SMM after the detection of the neutrino burst from SN1987A, we set new constraints on the mixing angle of the CP-even scalar with the Standard Model Higgs boson.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.08695,
title = {Flash from the Past: New Gamma-Ray Constraints on Light CP-even Scalar from SN1987A},
author = {Yue Yu and Writasree Maitra and P. S. Bhupal Dev and Jean-Franccois Fortin and Steven P. Harris and Kuver Sinha and Yongchao Zhang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.08695},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
15 pages, 11 figures