Solar neutrino decay

We re-examine the neutrino decay solution to the solar neutrino problem in light of the new data from GALLEX II and Kamiokande III. We compare the experimental data with the solar models of Bahcall and Pinsonneault and Turck-Chieze and find that neutrino decay is ruled out as a solution to the solar neutrino problem at better than the 98% CL even when solar model uncertainties are taken into account.     

Solar neutrino oscillation phenomenology

This article summarises the status of the solar neutrino oscillation phenomenology at the end of 2002 in the light of the SNO and KamLAND results. We first present the allowed areas obtained from global solar analysis and demonstrate the preference of the solar data towards the large-mixing-angle (LMA) MSW solution. A clear confirmation in favour of the LMA solution comes from the KamLAND reactor neutrino data. The KamLAND spectral data in conjunction with the global solar data further narrows down the allowed LMA region and splits it into two allowed zones a low Δm ² region (low-LMA) and high Δm ² region (high-LMA). We demonstrate through a projected analysis that with an exposure of 3 kton-year (kTy) KamLAND can remove this ambiguity.     

Solar mass-varying neutrino oscillations

We propose that the solar neutrino deficit may be due to oscillations of mass-varying neutrinos (MaVaNs). This scenario elucidates solar neutrino data beautifully while remaining comfortably compatible with atmospheric neutrino and K2K data and with reactor antineutrino data at short and long baselines (from CHOOZ and KamLAND). We find that the survival probability of solar MaVaNs is independent of how the suppression of neutrino mass caused by the acceleron-matter couplings varies with density. Measurements of MeV and lower energy solar neutrinos will provide a rigorous test of the idea.     

Solar neutrino problem and gravitationally induced long-wavelength neutrino oscillation

We have reexamined the possibility of explaining the solar neutrino data through long-wavelength neutrino oscillations induced by a tiny breakdown of the weak equivalence principle of general relativity. We have found that such gravitationally induced oscillations can provide a viable solution to the solar neutrino problem.     

Solar neutrino oscillations from superstrings

A recently proposed model of neutrino mass based on the heterotic superstring is shown to lead naturally to large oscillations of the SU(2)-doublet neutrino into sterile fermions leading to the possibility of substantial depletion of the solar electron neutrino flux as suggested by Davis' results. The model also leads to a psuedo-Dirac nuetrino with m_v = 10–20 eV, without conflict with null searches for neutrinoless double beta decay.     

Solar neutrino oscillation parameters after KamLAND

We explore the impact of the data from the KamLAND experiment in constraining neutrino mass and mixing angles involved in solar neutrino oscillations. In particular, we discuss the precision with which we can determine the mass squared difference Δm _⊙ ² and the mixing angle θ_⊙ from combined solar and KamLAND data. We show that the precision with which Δm _⊙ ² can be determined improves drastically with the KamLAND data, but the sensitivity of KamLAND to the mixing angle is not as good. We study the effect of enhanced statistics in KamLAND as well as reduced systematics in improving the precision. We also show the effect of the SNO salt data in improving the precision. Finally, we discuss how a dedicated reactor experiment with a baseline of 70 km can improve the θ_⊙ sensitivity by a large amount.     

Solar neutrino results and present status

The solar neutrino capture rate measured by the Russian-American Gallium Experiment on a metallic gallium target SAGE during the time from January 1990 through December 2000 is 77.0 _{?6.2 ?3.0} ^{+6.2 +3.5} SNU, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The experimental procedures and data analysis are presented.     

Solar neutrino oscillations in the quasi-vacuum regime

Motivated by recent experimental data, we study solar neutrino oscillations in the range δm²/E ε [10⁻¹⁰, 10⁻⁷] eV²/MeV. In this range vacuum oscillations become increasingly affected by (solar and terrestrial) matter effects for increasing δm², smoothly reaching the MSW regime. A numerical study of matter effects in such “quasi-vacuum” regime is performed. The results are applied to the analysis of the recent solar neutrino phenomenology.     

Solar neutrino experiments: Status and prospects

Solar neutrino experiments were originally conceived as a way to demonstrate that nuclear reactions are responsible for energy generation in stars. When solar neutrinos were first detected the measured flux was much less than what solar models predicted. The Solar Neutrino Problem thus came to be and it persisted for over thirty years. It is now known that the deficit in solar neutrinos (of electron neutrino flavour) was due to neutrino oscillations and that matter effects are important. Solar neutrino experiments played a key part in these discoveries and in recent developments in neutrino physics. This report summarizes Pontecorvo Neutrino Physics School lectures that explored the physics of solar neutrinos and the experiments that detected them. The lectures also included a look forward to future solar neutrino experiments and their physics goals and these are also discussed here.     

Solar neutrino problem in light of super-Kamiokande data

I discuss the status of the accepted solutions to the solar neutrino problem in light of the super-Kamiokande data.     

Solar neutrino oscillation diagnostics at SuperKamiokande and Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Results for solar neutrino detection from the SuperKamiokande collaboration have been presented recently while those from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are expected in the near future. These experiments are sensitive to the⁸B neutrinos from the sun, the shape of whose spectrum is well-known but the normalization is less certain. We propose several variables, insensitive to the absolute flux of the incident beam, which probe the shape of the observed spectrum and can sensitively signal neutrino oscillations. They provide methods to extract the neutrino mixing angle and mass splitting from the data and also to distinguish oscillation to sequential neutrinos from those to a sterile neutrino.