NEUTRINO PHYSICS AND SUPERNOVAE

The present status of core-collapse supernovae as well as weak interaction processes leading to the production of neutrinos and their emission from collapsing stars and newly born neutron stars are discussed. Special attention is given to the necessary micro-physics input data and to possible observational test. It is demonstrated that as far as neutrinos are concerned theoretical predictions and expectations are in fairly good agreement with the luminosity and average energy of neutrinos observed from SN 1987A, provided they signalled the formation of a neutron star. In addition, there are indirect ways to constrain the models, such as the optical light curves and nucleosynthesis predictions. They also will be discussed in some detail.