Detecting supernova neutrinos using neutrino-nucleus scattering reactions

In a type II supernova explosion an enormous amount of (anti)neutrinos of all flavors is emitted. They are escaping from very close to the center of the star, carrying away by far the largest part of the gravitationally released energy. The terrestrial detection of these neutrinos would provide precious information on the supernova event. We present cross-section calculations for neutrino scattering off atomic nuclei. We show that investigating the polarization characteristics in nucleon-knockout reactions allows one to obtain extra information on the supernova neutrinos, and we discuss the energy sensitivity of neutrino-nucleus interactions as a supernova-neutrino probe.