Supernova Simulations Confront SN 1987A Neutrinos

We return to interpreting the historical SN 1987A neutrino data from a modern perspective. To this end, we construct a suite of spherically symmetric supernova models with the prometheus-vertex code, using four different equations of state and five choices of final baryonic neutron-star (NS) mass in the 1.36-1.93M⊠range. Our models include muons and proto-neutron star (PNS) convection by a mixing-length approximation. The time-integrated signals of our 1.44M⊠models agree reasonably well with the combined data of the four relevant experiments, IMB, Kam-II, BUST, and LSD, but the high-Threshold IMB detector alone favors a NS mass of 1.7-1.8M⊠, whereas Kam-II alone prefers a mass around 1.4M⊠. The cumulative energy distributions in these two detectors are well-matched by models for such NS masses, and the previous tension between predicted mean neutrino energies and the combined measurements is gone, with and without flavor swap. Generally, our predicted signals do not strongly de...