A Brief History of the Co-evolution of Supernova Theory with Neutrino Physics

TL;DR

This paper reviews the intertwined history of supernova theory and neutrino physics over seventy years, emphasizing how advances in neutrino physics have shaped supernova models and highlighting the central role of neutrinos in understanding stellar explosions.

Contribution

It provides a concise overview of the historical co-evolution of supernova theory and neutrino physics, emphasizing the importance of neutrinos in supernova modeling.

Findings

Neutrino physics has driven key modifications in supernova models.

Supernova explosions are increasingly understood through sophisticated simulations.

Neutrinos are central to the final understanding of supernova mechanisms.

Abstract

The histories of core-collapse supernova theory and of neutrino physics have paralleled one another for more than seventy years. Almost every development in neutrino physics necessitated modifications in supernova models. What has emerged is a complex and rich dynamical scenario for stellar death that is being progressively better tested by increasingly sophisiticated computer simulations. Though there is still much to learn about the agency and details of supernova explosions, whatever final theory emerges will have the neutrino at its core. I summarize in this brief contribution some of the salient developments in neutrino physics as they related to supernova theory, while avoiding any attempt to review the hundreds of pivotal papers that have pushed supernova theory forward. My goal has been merely to highlight the debt of supernova astrophysics to neutrino physics.