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Dynamic competition of fast and collisional neutrino flavor instabilities with collisional damping in spatially inhomogeneous systems

Shota Takahashi1,*, Hiroki Nagakura2, Masamichi Zaizen3, Chinami Kato1, and Jiabao Liu4

  • *Contact author: tkst1228@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 043059 – Published 25 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7c32-rfjb

Abstract

Neutrino flavor evolution in dense astrophysical environments such as core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is influenced by collective effects. While the Fast Flavor Instability (FFI) and the Collisional Flavor Instability (CFI) are recognized as key drivers of rapid flavor conversion, their nonlinear competition with collisional damping in spatially inhomogeneous systems remains poorly understood. Motivated by recent findings that FFI and resonancelike CFI cooccur in the postbounce phase in CCSN, we scrutinize their dynamic competitions and asymptotic states. To this end, we perform numerical simulations of the quantum kinetic neutrino transport, incorporating both spatial advection and the collision terms. We demonstrate that the interplay between these coexisting neutrino flavor instabilities and collisions leads to rich dynamics. Rather than merely inducing simple decoherence, collisional damping can substantially alter the overall dynamics of collective flavor oscillations, driving the system through complex evolutionary pathways. In all cases where flavor instability develops, we find that the system converges to the same flavor-equilibrated asymptotic state, despite the diversity of intermediate dynamics. Our results suggest that realistic collisional effects drive the system to an asymptotic state distinct from the one predicted by the collisionless FFI picture. This highlights the importance of incorporating collisional effects when modeling the asymptotic outcome of flavor conversion in CCSN models.

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Information

Phys. Rev. D 114, 043059– Published 25 August, 2026
  • Received 12 May 2026
  • Accepted 30 July 2026
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