Effects of neutrino temperatures and mass hierarchies on the detection of supernova neutrinos

The possible outcomes of neutrino events at both Super-Kamiokande and SNO for a type-II supernova are analyzed considering the uncertainties in supernova neutrino spectra (temperature) at emission, which may complicate the interpretation of the observed events. With the input of parameters deduced from the current solar and atmospheric experiments, the consequences of direct-mass hierarchy m(nu tau)much greater than m(nu mu)>m(nu e) and inverted-mass hierarchy m(nu e)>m(nu mu)much greater than m(nu tau) are investigated. Even if the nu temperatures are not precisely known, we find that future experiments are likely to be able to separate the currently accepted solutions to the solar neutrino problem, large-angle Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW), small-angle MSW, and the vacuum oscillation, as well as to distinguish between the direct and inverted mass hierarchies of the neutrinos.