Quantum Neutrino Plasmas in Explosive Astrophysics

Core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers are hosts to extreme physical environments that continue to push the boundaries of theoretical and computational physics. Although state of the art three-dimensional models make predictions of explosion energies, gravitational wave signals, neutrino signals, and abundances of synthesized elements, a it now seems that a piece of old physics (flavor-changing neutrinos) adds a seemingly insurmountable level of complexity, despite being previously regarded as unimportant. I will present our recent advances in bringing the physics of dense quantum neutrino plasmas under control using calculations ranging from microscopic plasma instabilities to global collisions of neutron stars. I will also discuss the long road ahead to predictive models and the potential discoveries along the way.