Neutrino astrophysics bridges several subfields of physics that traditionally have been separated. It is an interdisciplinary area where input from nuclear physics, particle physics, and astrophysics is needed. Neutrino mass and oscillations are now seen in the solar-neutrino spectrum, in atmospheric neutrinos, and in accelerator neutrino experiments. There are many profound astrophysical implications of these recent results. Weakly interacting neutrinos can easily carry energy away from hot regions of the cosmos.

The recent neutrino oscillation data may also have  significant implications for our picture of Type II supernovae. There has been steady progress in the last ten years in our understanding of supernovae. It was shown that neutral-current neutrino-nucleus scattering from abundant nuclei in supernovae can produce less abundant species such as B¹¹, F¹⁹, Li⁶ in significant amounts. Significant progress was made on explosion models. The expanding neutron-rich hot bubble formed between the neutrino-sphere and the shock wave is now considered to be a very plausible site for the r-process. The details delicately depend on the differing temperatures of various neutrino types; consequently the measurements of neutrinos from a future supernova could be a powerful diagnostic tool of supernova conditions. More work still needs to be done on electron capture during the infall stage and on the role of collective effects on neutrino opacities. We still need to elucidate the role of matter-enhanced neutrino oscillations, neutrino-neutrino interactions, and density fluctuations in the hot bubble.

Most nuclei lighter than iron are formed either during the evolution of the early universe of the stellar evolution. Most nuclei heavier than iron are formed in the r-process where neutron captures on a series of nuclei are followed by the beta decay). Details of both primordial and r-process nucleosynthesis depends on the ratio of protons to neutrons, which in turn is controlled by the ratio of electron neutrinos to electron anti-neutrinos. Since the neutrino oscillation phenomena can significantly alter the latter ratio, it can put strong restrictions on the distribution of elements.