Identifying the neutrino mass spectrum from a supernova neutrino burst - art. no. 033007

We study the role that the future detection of the neutrino burst from a ga lactic supernova can play in the reconstruction of the neutrino mass spectr um. We consider all possible 3v mass and flavor spectra which describe the solar and atmospheric neutrino data. For each of these spectra we find the observable effects of the supernova neutrino conversions both in the matter of the star and the Earth. We show that studies of the electron neutrino a nd antineutrino spectra as well as observations of the neutral current effe cts from supernova will allow us (i) to identify the solar neutrino solutio n, (ii) to determine the type of mass hierarchy (normal or inverted) and (i ii) to probe the mixing \ U-e3\(2) to values as low as 10(-4)-10(-3).