Nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven supernovae

Core collapse supernovae are the leading actor in the story of the cosmic origin of the chemical elements. Existing models, which generally assume spherical symmetry and parameterize the explosion, have been able to broadly replicate the observed elemental pattern. However, inclusion of neutrino interactions produces noticeable improvements in the iron peak composition of the ejecta when compared to observations. Neutrino interactions may also provide a supernova source for light p-process nuclei.