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

中微子是幽灵般的粒子，与物质的相互作用非常弱。因此，可能会令人惊讶的是，中微子可能是早期宇宙等天体物理环境中的大部分重物，以及大质量恒星的引力坍塌和相关的超新星爆炸的原因。中微子可以影响甚至带来这些环境中元素的产生，从大爆炸中的氦和重核，到新创建的中子星表面被吹走的最后一缕物质中的碘、金和铀核。所有这一切之所以会发生，是因为中微子用巨大的数量弥补了它们微弱的个体相互作用。

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.