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Axions coupled to nucleons might be copiously emitted from core-collapse supernovae (SNe). If the axion-nucleon coupling is strong enough, then axions would be emitted from the SN as a burst and, reaching Earth, may excite the oxygen nuclei in water C Cherenkov detectors (^16O+a^16O^*). This process will be followed by decay (s) of the excited state resulting in an emission of photons and thus providing a possibility for a direct detection of axions from a galactic SN in large underground neutrino C Cherenkov detectors. Motivated by this possibility, we present an updated calculation of axion-oxygen cross section obtained by using self-consistent continuum random-phase approximation. We calculate the branching ratio of the oxygen nucleus deexcitation into rays, neutrons, protons, and particles and also consider photon emission from secondary nuclei to compute a total spectrum created when axions excite ^16O. These results are used to revisit the detectability of axions from SN 1987A in Kamiokande-II.
Carenza et al. (Tue,) studied this question.