Stories told by MeV neutrinos

Olga (Liliana) Caballero Suarez
University of Guelph

Abstract

Elusive neutrinos are a window to the interior of compact objects. Their weakly interacting character allows them to decouple from highly dense stellar matter, much deeper than photons, and travel longer distances with no deflection. Thus, MeV neutrinos have the potential of unveiling the behavior of phenomena such as neutron star mergers, core-collapse Supernovae, and the synthesis of elements. As standalone detection or in the context of multi-messengers signals, neutrinos offer opportunities to understand our Universe in unprecedented ways. Interpreting neutrino observations relies on models of neutrino emission and their interaction with nuclear matter. In this colloquium,  I shall discuss neutrino emission from astrophysical environments like collapsars and neutron-star mergers, their influence on the synthesis of heavy elements, show results on relic neutrinos, and the possibility of testing models of the nuclear force.