Neutrinos from CNO cycle at the present epoch of the solar neutrino research

The CNO cycle contributes only a small fraction to the energy generated in the Sun but there’s still no experimental data on exactly how small this contribution is. After the results of Borexino experiment the CNO neutrinos it is the last missing chain to compose the total picture of the energy generation of the Sun. To get precision in the evaluation of the flux of pp-neutrinos one needs to measure the flux of CNO neutrinos. Then it will be possible to address the question on the presence of still unknown (hidden) sources of solar energy and/or on the presence of sterile neutrinos. The future experimental program to measure the effect from CNO neutrinos is discussed.     

First evidence of pep solar neutrinos by direct detection in Borexino

We observed, for the first time, solar neutrinos in the 1.0-1.5 MeV energy range. We determined the rate of pep solar neutrino interactions in Borexino to be 3.1±0.6{stat}±0.3{syst} counts/(day·100 ton). Assuming the pep neutrino flux predicted by the standard solar model, we obtained a constraint on the CNO solar neutrino interaction rate of <7.9 counts/(day·100 ton) (95% C.L.). The absence of the solar neutrino signal is disfavored at 99.97% C.L., while the absence of the pep signal is disfavored at 98% C.L. The necessary sensitivity was achieved by adopting data analysis techniques for the rejection of cosmogenic {11}C, the dominant background in the 1-2 MeV region. Assuming the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein large mixing angle solution to solar neutrino oscillations, these values correspond to solar neutrino fluxes of (1.6±0.3)×10{8} cm{-2}?s^{-1} and <7.7×10{8} cm{-2}?s{-1} (95% C.L.), respectively, in agreement with both the high and low metallicity standard solar models. These results represent the first direct evidence of the pep neutrino signal and the strongest constraint of the CNO solar neutrino flux to date.     

Direct measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino flux with 192 days of borexino data

We report the direct measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino signal rate performed with the Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The interaction rate of the 0.862 MeV 7Be neutrinos is 49+/-3stat+/-4syst counts/(day.100 ton). The hypothesis of no oscillation for 7Be solar neutrinos is inconsistent with our measurement at the 4sigma C.L. Our result is the first direct measurement of the survival probability for solar nu(e) in the transition region between matter-enhanced and vacuum-driven oscillations. The measurement improves the experimental determination of the flux of 7Be, pp, and CNO solar nu(e), and the limit on the effective neutrino magnetic moment using solar neutrinos.     

Precision measurement of the (7)Be solar neutrino interaction rate in Borexino

The rate of neutrino-electron elastic scattering interactions from 862 keV (7)Be solar neutrinos in Borexino is determined to be 46.0±1.5(stat)(-1.6)(+1.5)(syst)?counts/(day·100 ton). This corresponds to a ν(e)-equivalent (7)Be solar neutrino flux of (3.10±0.15)×10(9) cm(-2)?s(-1) and, under the assumption of ν(e) transition to other active neutrino flavours, yields an electron neutrino survival probability of 0.51±0.07 at 862 keV. The no flavor change hypothesis is ruled out at 5.0?σ. A global solar neutrino analysis with free fluxes determines Φ(pp)=6.06(-0.06)(+0.02)×10(10) cm(-2)?s(-1) and Φ(CNO)<1.3×10(9) cm(-2)?s(-1) (95% C.L.). These results significantly improve the precision with which the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein large mixing angle neutrino oscillation model is experimentally tested at low energy.     

Physics prospects of the Jinping neutrino experiment

The China Jinping Underground Laboratory(CJPL), which has the lowest cosmic-ray muon flux and the lowest reactor neutrino flux of any laboratory, is ideal to carry out low-energy neutrino experiments. With two detectors and a total fiducial mass of 2000 tons for solar neutrino physics(equivalently, 3000 tons for geo-neutrino and supernova neutrino physics), the Jinping neutrino experiment will have the potential to identify the neutrinos from the CNO fusion cycles of the Sun, to cover the transition phase for the solar neutrino oscillation from vacuum to matter mixing, and to measure the geo-neutrino flux, including the Th/U ratio. These goals can be fulfilled with mature existing techniques. Efforts on increasing the target mass with multi-modular neutrino detectors and on developing the slow liquid scintillator will increase the Jinping discovery potential in the study of solar neutrinos,geo-neutrinos, supernova neutrinos, and dark matter.     

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.     

Physical substantiation of the lithium experiment

The lithium detector is highly efficient for measurement of CNO neutrino flux. The application of the equation of solar luminosity balance provides a possibility of determination of the total pp-neutrino flux with an uncertainty of approximately 1% if the neutrino flux from CNO cycle is measured with an uncertainty of 30%. This is possible if the measurement uncertainty of the total neutrino capture rate by lithium is 10%, which can be reached using a detector with a mass of 10 t during 5 years. As a rule, experiments with solar neutrinos are carried out for 10 years and longer.     

Does the sun shine by pp or CNO fusion reactions?

We show that solar neutrino experiments set an upper limit of 7.8% (7.3% including the recent KamLAND measurements) to the fraction of energy that the Sun produces via the CNO fusion cycle, which is an order of magnitude improvement upon the previous limit. New experiments are required to detect CNO neutrinos corresponding to the 1.5% of the solar luminosity that the standard solar model predicts is generated by the CNO cycle.     

On the possibility of detecting solar <Emphasis Type="Italic">pp</Emphasis> neutrino with the large-volume liquid organic scintillator detector

It is shown that a large-volume liquid organic scintillator detector with an energy resolution of 10 keV at 200 keV (1σ) will be sensitive to solar pp neutrinos, if operated at the target radiopurity levels for the Borexino detector or the solar neutrino project of KamLAND.     

Experimental evidence of electron neutrino oscillations and validation of MSW-LMA model with Borexino

We report the real time measurements of ⁷Be and ⁸B solar neutrino fluxes performed with the Borexino experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The achievement of these measurements was possible thanks to the excellent levels of the radiopurity reached. The measurement of the ⁷Be in real time is the first direct measurements of the survival probability for solar electron neutrinos in the vacuum region. For ⁸B we reached a threshold energy of 3MeV which is the lowest achieved so far in real time. For the first time, the same apparatus can measure two different oscillation regions (vacuum-driven and matter-enhanced) predicted by the MSW-LMA model. Borexino also quotes the ratio between the survival probabilities, corresponding to 1.93 ± 0.75, and validates the presence of the transition region between the two oscillation regimes, according to the MSW-LMA solution.In addition, a preliminary result on the Day-Night Asymmetry (ADN) for the ⁷Be neutrino flux is presented and corresponds to 0.007 ± 0.073. This measurement makes Borexino able to give once more an independent confirmation of the MSW-LMA solution.     

Borexino and its physics program

Borexino, a real-time detector for low energy neutrino spectroscopy is under construction in the underground laboratory LNGS at GranSasso, Italy. The experiment aims for the first direct measurement of the solar ⁷Beneutrino flux.     

Solar neutrino spectroscopy

Since the pioneering experiment of R. Davis et al., which started neutrino astronomy by measuring the solar neutrinos via the inverse beta decay reaction on ³⁷Cl, all solar neutrino experiments find a considerably lower flux than expected by standard solar models. This finding is generally called the solar neutrino problem. Many attempts have been made to explain this result by altering the solar models, or assuming different nuclear cross sections for fusion processes assumed to be the energy sources in the sun.There have been performed numerous experiments recently to investigate the different possibilities to explain the solar neutrino problem. These experiments covered solar physics with helioseismology, nuclear cross section measurements, and solar neutrino experiments.Up to now no convincing explanation based on “standard” physics was suggested. However, assuming nonstandard neutrino properties, i.e. neutrino masses and mixing as expected in most extensions of the standard theory of elementary particle physics, natural solutions for the solar neutrino problem can be found.It appears that with this newly invented neutrino astronomy fundamental information on astrophysics as well as elementary particle physics are tested uniquely. In this contribution an attempt is made to review the situation of the neutrino astronomy for solar neutrino spectroscopy and discuss the future prospects in this field.     

First results of the Borexino experiment

Data of the Borexino experiment on the detection of the reaction involving elastic solar-neutrino scattering on an electron are presented. The fraction of electron neutrinos in the fluxes of ⁷Be and ⁸B neutrinos is in agreement with the LMA MSW oscillation solution. The uniquely low level of the Borexino detector background made it possible to set new limits on the effective magnetic moment of the neutrino, on the possible violation of the Pauli exclusion principle, and on some other rare processes.     

Lithium experiment on solar neutrinos to weight the CNO cycle

The measurement of the flux of beryllium neutrinos with an accuracy of about 10% and CNO neutrinos with an accuracy of 20–30% will enable one to find the flux of pp neutrinos in the source with an accuracy better than 1% using the luminosity constraint. The future experiments on νe^? scattering will enable one to measure with very good accuracy the flux of beryllium and pp neutrinos on the Earth. The ratio of the flux of pp neutrinos on the Earth and in the source will enable one to find with very good accuracy a mixing angle θ_⊙. A lithium detector has high sensitivity to CNO neutrinos and can find the contribution of the CNO cycle to the energy generated in the Sun. This will be a stringent test of the theory of stellar evolution and combined with other experiments will provide a precise determination of the flux of pp neutrinos in the source and a mixing angle θ_⊙. The work on the development of the technology of a lithium experiment is now in progress.     

Solar magnetohydrodynamic modes and parametric resonance in neutrino spin–flavor conversion

Consequences of parametric resonances on neutrino resonant spin–flavor precession (RSFP) arising from global magnetohydrodynamic waves in the Sun are investigated. We show that for typical magnetic field profiles which generate an RSFP solution to the solar neutrino anomaly, the effects of the parametric resonance can be found for neutrinos of which the energy is of order 0.1 to 1 MeV. This opens the possibility of investigating these effects using real time experiments, like Borexino or Hellaz. Received: 4 March 1999 / Published online: 8 December 1999     

A lithium experiment in the program of solar neutrino research

Experiments sensitive to pp neutrinos from the Sun are very promising for precise measurement of the mixing angle ϑ ₁₂. A νe ⁻ scattering experiment (XMASS) and/or a charged-current experiment (indium detector) can measure the flux of electron pp neutrinos. One can find the total flux of pp neutrinos from a luminosity constraint after the contributions of ⁷Be and CNO neutrinos to the total luminosity of the Sun are measured. A radiochemical experiment utilizing a lithium target has high sensitivity to the CNO neutrinos; thus, it has a good promise for precise measurement of the mixing angle and for a test of the current theory of evolution of the stars. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Sterile neutrinos and future solar neutrino experiments

It is shown that future solar neutrino experiments (SNO, Super-Kamiokande and others), in which high energy neutrinos will be detected (mostly from ⁸B decay), may allow to answer in a model independent way the question whether there are transitions of solar v_e's into sterile states. No assumptions about the initial flux of ⁸B neutrinos are made. Lower bounds for the probability of transition of solar v_e's into all sterile states are derived and expressed through measurable quantities.     

Scattering of solar beryllium neutrinos by electrons

The flavor of solar beryllium neutrinos is investigated. Possible presence of neutral leptons of all generations (families), related (electron) antineutrinos, and “sterile” particles in the solar beryllium neutrino flux is considered. The angular distribution and energy spectrum of electrons at beryllium neutrino scattering are analyzed within the standard electroweak model.     

Low-energy anti-neutrinos from the sun

If neutrino conversions within the Sun result in partial polarization of initial solar neutrino fluxes, then a new opportunity arises to observe the 's in future neutrino experiments in the low energy region (such as BOREXINO or HELLAZ) and thus to probe the Majorana nature of the neutrinos. The conversions may take place for low energy solar neutrinos while being unobservable at the Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande experiments.