Role of nucleon strangeness in supernova explosions

Recent hydrodynamical simulations of core-collapse supernova (CCSN) evolution have highlighted the importance of thorough control over the microscopic physics responsible for such internal processes as neutrino heating. In particular, it has been suggested that modifications to the neutrino-nucleon elastic cross section can potentially play a crucial role in producing successful CCSN explosions. One possible source of such corrections can be found in a nonzero value for the nucleon's strange helicity content Δ s . In the present analysis, however, we show that theoretical and experimental progress over the past decade has suggested a comparatively small magnitude for Δ s , such that its sole effect is not sufficient to provide the physics leading to CCSN explosions.