Nuclear, Particle and Weak Interaction Physics of the Big Bang and Stellar Collapse

中微子是一种幽灵般的粒子，与物质的相互作用非常弱。因此，中微子很可能是早期宇宙、大质量恒星的引力坍缩以及相关的超新星爆炸等天体物理环境中大部分繁重工作的罪魁祸首，这可能会让人感到惊讶。中微子可以影响甚至导致这些环境中元素的产生，从大爆炸中的氦和氘原子核到从新形成的中子星表面喷出的最后一缕物质中的碘、金和铀原子核。这一切之所以能够发生，是因为中微子与大量中微子之间的微弱相互作用足以弥补它们的不足。

Neutrinos are ghostlike particles that experience notoriously weak interactions with matter. So, it may come as a surprise that neutrinos likely are responsible for much of the heavy lifting in astrophysical environments like the early universe and the gravitational collapse of massive stars and associated supernova explosions. Neutrinos can influence and even bring about the creation of the elements in these environments, from helium and deuterium nuclei in the Big Bang to iodine, gold, and uranium nuclei in the last wisp of material blown off the surface of a newly created neutron star. All this can happen because neutrinos more than make up for their feeble individual interactions with huge numbers.