Role of Nucleon Strangeness in Core-Collapse Supernova Explosions

The ongoing quest to simulate explosions of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) in hydrodynamical calculations has placed an enormous premium upon the nuclear and hadronic processes integral to the system's evolution ({\it i.e.,} the {\it microphysics}). In this context, modifications to the neutrino-nucleon elastic cross section have been identified as potentially key to ensuring that stalled bounce shocks are sufficiently re-energized to produce the desired explosion. An important source of such corrections can be found in a negative value for the nucleon's strange helicity content $\Delta s$, which leads to the enhancement and suppression of the $\nu - p$ and $\nu -n$ total cross sections, respectively. In this talk, however, I summarize the results of a recent analysis which led to a comparatively small magnitude for the strange helicity ($\Delta s \ge -0.1$) --- a fact which renders nucleon strangeness an unlikely candidate for the decisive missing ingredient necessary in simulations for CCSN explosions.