The effect of collective flavor oscillations on the diffuse supernova neutrino background

Collective flavor oscillations driven by neutrino-neutrino interactions inside core-collapse supernovae have now been shown to drastically alter the resultant neutrino fluxes. This would in turn significantly affect the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB), created by all core-collapse supernovae that have exploded in the past. In view of these collective effects, we re-analyze the potential for detecting the DSNB in currently running and planned large scale detectors meant for detecting both ($) over bar (e) and v(e). We find that the event rate can be different from previous estimates by up to 50%, depending on the value theta(13). The next generation detectors should be able to observe DSNB fluxes. Under certain conducive conditions, one could learn about neutrino parameters. For instance, it might be possible to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy, even if theta(13) -> 0.