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Creators/Authors contains: "Berger, B E"

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  1. Abstract The electron antineutrino flux limits are presented for the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) of all time, GRB221009A, over a range of 1.8–200 MeV using the Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Antineutrino Detector. Using multiple time windows ranging from minutes to days surrounding the event to search for electron antineutrinos coincident with the GRB, we set an upper limit on the flux under the assumption of several power-law neutrino source spectra, with power-law indices ranging from 1.5 to 3 in steps of 0.5. No excess was observed in any time windows ranging from seconds to days around the event trigger timeT0. For a power-law index of 2 and a time window ofT0 ±  500 s, a flux upper limit of 2.34  ×  109cm−2was calculated. The limits are compared to the results presented by IceCube. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 7, 2026
  2. Abstract We present the results of a search for core-collapse supernova neutrinos, using long-term KamLAND data from 2002 March 9 to 2020 April 25. We focus on the electron antineutrinos emitted from supernovae in the energy range of 1.8–111 MeV. Supernovae will make a neutrino event cluster with the duration of ∼10 s in the KamLAND data. We find no neutrino clusters and give the upper limit on the supernova rate to be 0.15 yr−1with a 90% confidence level. The detectable range, which corresponds to a >95% detection probability, is 40–59 kpc and 65–81 kpc for core-collapse supernovae and failed core-collapse supernovae, respectively. This paper proposes to convert the supernova rate obtained by the neutrino observation to the Galactic star formation rate. Assuming a modified Salpeter-type initial mass function, the upper limit on the Galactic star formation rate is <(17.5–22.7)Myr−1with a 90% confidence level. 
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  3. Abstract We present the results of a time-coincident event search for low-energy electron antineutrinos in the KamLAND detector with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) from the Gamma-ray Coordinates Network and Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. Using a variable coincidence time window of ±500 s plus the duration of each GRB, no statistically significant excess above the background is observed. We place the world’s most stringent 90% confidence level upper limit on the electron antineutrino fluence below 17.5 MeV. Assuming a Fermi–Dirac neutrino energy spectrum from the GRB source, we use the available redshift data to constrain the electron antineutrino luminosity and effective temperature. 
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  4. Abstract Preceding a core-collapse supernova (CCSN), various processes produce an increasing amount of neutrinos of all flavors characterized by mounting energies from the interior of massive stars. Among them, the electron antineutrinos are potentially detectable by terrestrial neutrino experiments such as KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande (SK) via inverse beta decay interactions. Once these pre-supernova (pre-SN) neutrinos are observed, an early warning of the upcoming CCSN can be provided. In light of this, KamLAND and SK, both located in the Kamioka mine in Japan, have been monitoring pre-SN neutrinos since 2015 and 2021, respectively. Recently, we performed a joint study between KamLAND and SK on pre-SN neutrino detection. A pre-SN alert system combining the KamLAND detector and the SK detector was developed and put into operation, which can provide a supernova alert to the astrophysics community. Fully leveraging the complementary properties of these two detectors, the combined alert is expected to resolve a pre-SN neutrino signal from a 15Mstar within 510 pc of the Earth at a significance level corresponding to a false alarm rate of no more than 1 per century. For a Betelgeuse-like model with optimistic parameters, it can provide early warnings up to 12 hr in advance. 
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  5. Abstract We report on a search for electron antineutrinos ( ν ¯ e ) from astrophysical sources in the neutrino energy range 8.3–30.8 MeV with the KamLAND detector. In an exposure of 6.72 kton-year of the liquid scintillator, we observe 18 candidate events via the inverse beta decay reaction. Although there is a large background uncertainty from neutral current atmospheric neutrino interactions, we find no significant excess over background model predictions. Assuming several supernova relic neutrino spectra, we give upper flux limits of 60–110 cm−2s−1(90% confidence level, CL) in the analysis range and present a model-independent flux. We also set limits on the annihilation rates for light dark matter pairs to neutrino pairs. These data improve on the upper probability limit of8B solar neutrinos converting into ν ¯ e , P ν e ν ¯ e < 3.5 × 10 5 (90% CL) assuming an undistorted ν ¯ e shape. This corresponds to a solar ν ¯ e flux of 60 cm−2s−1(90% CL) in the analysis energy range. 
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  6. Abstract We report the result of a search for neutrinos in coincidence with solar flares from the GOES flare database. The search was performed on a 10.8 kton-year exposure of KamLAND collected from 2002 to 2019. This large exposure allows us to explore previously unconstrained parameter space for solar flare neutrinos. We found no statistical excess of neutrinos and established 90% confidence level upper limits of 8.4 × 107cm−2(3.0 × 109cm−2) on the electron antineutrino (electron neutrino) fluence at 20 MeV normalized to the X12 flare, assuming that the neutrino fluence is proportional to the X-ray intensity. 
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  7. null (Ed.)