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Abstract

Neutrinos are unique probes of core-collapse supernova dynamics, especially in the case of black hole (BH-)forming stellar collapses, where the electromagnetic emission may be faint or absent. By investigating two three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of BH-forming stellar collapses of mass 40  M_⊙ and 75  M_⊙, we identify the physical processes preceding BH formation through neutrinos and forecast the neutrino signal expected in the existing IceCube and Super-Kamiokande detectors, as well as in the future generation DUNE facility. Prior to the abrupt termination of the neutrino signal corresponding to BH formation, both models develop episodes of strong and long-lasting activity by the spiral standing accretion shock instability (SASI). We find that the spiral SASI peak in the Fourier power spectrum of the neutrino event rate will be distinguishable at 3_σ above the detector noise for distances up to ∼O(30) kpc in the most optimistic scenario, with IceCube having the highest sensitivity. Interestingly, given the long duration of the spiral SASI episodes, the spectrograms of the expected neutrino event rate carry clear signs of the evolution of the spiral SASI frequency as a function of time, as the shock radius and postshock fluid velocity evolve. Because of the high accretion luminosity and its large-amplitude SASI-induced modulations, any contribution from asymmetric (dipolar or quadrupolar) neutrino emission associated with the lepton emission self-sustained asymmetry is far subdominant in the neutrino signal.