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A computationally efficient method for calculating the transport of neutrino flavor in simulations is to use angular moments of the neutrino one-body reduced density matrix, i.e., “quantum moments.” As with any moment-based radiation transport method, a closure is needed if the infinite tower of moment evolution equations is truncated. We derive a general parametrization of a quantum closure and the limits the parameters must satisfy in order for the closure to be physical. We then derive from multiangle calculations the evolution of the closure parameters in two test cases which we then progressively insert into a moment evolution code and show how the parameters affect the moment results until the full multiangle results are reproduced. This parametrization paves the way to setting prescriptions for genuine quantum closures adapted to neutrino transport in a range of situations. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

Abstract Multi-messenger astrophysics has produced a wealth of data with much more to come in the future. This enormous data set will reveal new insights into the physics of core-collapse supernovae, neutron star mergers, and many other objects where it is actually possible, if not probable, that new physics is in operation. To tease out different possibilities, we will need to analyze signals from photons, neutrinos, gravitational waves, and chemical elements. This task is made all the more difficult when it is necessary to evolve the neutrino component of the radiation field and associated quantum-mechanical property of flavor in order to model the astrophysical system of interest—a numerical challenge that has not been addressed to this day. In this work, we take a step in this direction by adopting the technique of angular-integrated moments with a truncated tower of dynamical equations and a closure, convolving the flavor-transformation with spatial transport to evolve the neutrino radiation quantum field. We show that moments capture the dynamical features of fast flavor instabilities in a variety of systems, although our technique is by no means a universal blueprint for solving fast flavor transformation. To evaluate the effectiveness of our moment results, we compare to a more precise particle-in-cell method. Based on our results, we propose areas for improvement and application to complementary techniques in the future.