Heavy sterile neutrinos and supernova explosions

We consider sterile neutrinos with rest masses ∼0.2 GeV∼0.2 GeV and with vacuum flavor mixing angles θ2>10−8θ2>10−8 for mixing with τ  -neutrinos, or 10−8<θ2<10−710−8<θ2<10−7 for mixing with muon neutrinos. Such sterile neutrinos could augment core collapse supernova shock energies by enhancing energy transport from the core to the vicinity of the shock front. The decay of these neutrinos could produce a flux of very energetic active neutrinos, detectable by future neutrino observations from galactic supernova. The relevant range of sterile neutrino masses and mixing angles can be probed in future laboratory experiments.