Neutrinos: Future directions in particle physics and astrophysics

With the recent discovery of the Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider we have shown the standard model of particle physics to be a great description of nature. This, coupled with the lack of any observations of supersymmetry at the LHC, have many wondering what is next. The demonstration that neutrinos have mass has, however, already shown that we need to modify the standard model. Unfortunately we cannot extend the standard model until we determine whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles. Need for something further beyond the standard model is strongly motivated by the mysteries of inflation, dark energy, dark matter, and an excess of matter over antimatter in the universe. I will explore how neutrino experiments tie in with these results, in particular whether they can provide an explanation for the matter excess in the universe. Combined with discussing the connection between neutrinos and the future particle physics program, I will also discuss how neutrinos can help us understand the evolution of the sun and earth, and the details about supernova explosions.