Magnetic Dipole and Gamow-Teller Modes in Neutrino-Nucleus Reactions: Impact on Supernova Dynamics and Nucleosynthesis.

Some aspects of the importance of neutrino-induced reactions on nuclei within supernova physics are discussed. It is argued that important constraints on the experimentally unknown cross sections can be obtained from experimental studies of the nuclear response in selected cases. Examples are neutral-current induced reactions on fp-shell nuclei extracted from high-resolution inelastic electron scattering data providing the M1 strength distributions and the production of the exotic heavy, odd-odd nuclei 138La and 180Ta through charged-current reactions dominated by Gamow-Teller transitions. The Gamow-Teller strength can deduced from the (3He,t) charge-exchange reaction at zero degree. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]