Resonant spin-flavor precession constraints on the neutrino parameters and the twisting structure of the solar magnetic fields from the solar neutrino data

Resonant spin-flavor precession (RSFP) scenario with twisting solar magnetic fields has been confronted with the solar neutrino data from various ongoing experiments. The anticorrelation apparent in the Homestake solar neutrino data has been taken seriously to constrain (Δ m ² ,φ′) parameter space and the twisting profiles of the magnetic field in the convective zone of the Sun. The twisting profiles, thus derived, have been used to calculate the variation of the neutrino detection rates with the solar magnetic activity for the Homestake, Super-Kamiokande and the gallium experiments. It is found that the presence of twisting reduces the degree of anticorrelation in all the solar neutrino experiments. However, the anticorrelation in the Homestake experiment is expected to be more pronounced in this scenario. Moreover, the anticorrelation of the solar neutrino flux emerging from the southern solar hemisphere is expected to be stronger than that for the neutrinos emerging from the northern solar hemispheres.     

Topological geometrodynamics and the solar neutrino problem

A solution of the solar neutrino problem based on certain differences between T(opological) G(eometro) D(ynamics) and the standard model of the electroweak interactions is proposed. First, TGD predicts the existence of a right-handed neutrino inert with respect to ordinary electroweak interactions. Second, the generalization of the massless Dirac equation contains terms mixing differentM ⁴ chiralities, unlike the ordinary massless Dirac equation. This and the observation of anticorrelations of the solar neutrino flux with sunspot number suggest that solar neutrinos are transformed to right-handed neutrinos on the convective zone of the Sun. Third, the compactness ofCP ₂ implies topological field quantization: space-time decomposes into regions, topological field quanta, characterized by a handful of vacuum quantum numbers. In particular, there are topological obstructions for the smooth global imbeddings of magnetic fields and the decomposition of the solar magnetic field into flux tubes is predicted. Finally, every electromagnetically neutral mass distribution is accompanied by a long-rangeZ ⁰ vacuum field. If the vacuum quantum numbers inside the flux tubes of the solar magnetic field are considerably smaller than in the normal phase, theZ ⁰ electric force becomes strong and implies Thomas precession for the spin of the lefthanded component of the neutrino. As a consequence, left-handed neutrinos are transformed to right-handed ones and the process is irreversible, since righthanded neutrinos do not couple toZ ⁰.     

The solar neutrino problem

I review the solar neutrino problem and what it has taught us about the Sun and fundamental physics.     

The Solar Neutrino Problem as Evidence of New Interaction

A new concept to solve the solar neutrino problem that is based on the hypothesis about the existence of a new interaction of electron neutrinos with nucleons mediated by massless pseudoscalar bosons is proposed. At each collision of a neutrino with nucleons of the Sun, its helicity changes from left- to right-handed and vice versa, and its energy decreases. The postulated hypothesis, having only one free parameter, provides good agreement between the calculated and experimental characteristics of all five observed processes with solar neutrinos.     

Matter effects in active-sterile solar neutrino oscillations

We study the matter effects for solar neutrino oscillations in a general scheme, without any constraint on the number of sterile neutrinos and the mixing matrix elements, only assuming a realistic hierarchy of neutrino squared-mass differences in which the smallest squared-mass difference is effective in solar neutrino oscillations. The validity of the analytic results is illustrated with a numerical solution of the evolution equation in the simplest case of four-neutrino mixing with the realistic matter density profile inside the Sun.     

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.     

A new three-flavor oscillation solution of the solar neutrino deficit in <Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>-parity violating supersymmetry

We present a solution of the solar neutrino deficit using three flavors of neutrinos and R-parity non-conserving supersymmetry. In this model, in vacuum, the is massless and unmixed, mass and mixing being restricted to the - sector only, which we choose in consistency with the requirements of the atmospheric neutrino anomaly. The flavor changing and flavor diagonal neutral currents present in the model and the three-flavor picture together produce an energy dependent resonance-induced - mixing in the sun. This mixing plays a key role in the new solution to the solar neutrino problem. The best fit to the solar neutrino rates and spectrum (1258-day SK and 241-day SNO data) requires a mass square difference of eV² in vacuum between the two lightest neutrinos. This solution cannot accommodate a significant day-night effect for solar neutrinos nor CP violation in terrestrial neutrino experiments. Received: 26 December 2001 / Revised version: 16 February 2002 / Published online: 26 July 2002     

Magnetic moment solution to the solar neutrino problem,anticorrelation with sunspot activity and challenges for future experiments

The analysis of the most recent solar neutrino data in the light of the resonant spin flip flavour conversion of neutrinos in the Sun suggests the existence of two possible solutions for the solar neutrino problem, one of them associated with a neutrino flavour mass square difference of the order of 10^?8 eV² and the other of the order of 10^?5eV². The magnetic moment is in the range μ_v= (10^?12 ? 10^?11) μ_B. In the first possibility the most energetic neutrinos will have their resonance in the solar onvective zone. This indicates that the forthcoming SNO and Icarus experiments are very well placed to test this solution through the anticorrelation effect with sunspot activity that may be present in the Homestake data but still remains an open question.     

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 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.     

Anomalouse + e − pairs in heavy ion collisions and solar neutrinos

The production of anomalouse ⁺ e ^–pairs in heavy ion collisions and the solar neutrino puzzle are two seemingly unrelated problems of the standard model of electroweak interactions. According to the observations made at Homestake and Kamiokande, the flux of solar neutrinos is too small. Furthermore, the observations made at Homestake (neutrino-nucleon scattering) show anticorrelation of the solar neutrino flux with sunspots, unlike the observations made in Kamiokande (neutrino-electron scattering). According to the previously proposed model inspired by T(opological) G(eometro) D(ynamics), anomalouse ⁺ e ^–pairs result from the decay of the leptopion, which can be regarded as a bound state of color excited electrons. In this paper we show that the generalization of PCAC ideas leads to a prediction for the lifetime and production cross section of the leptopion in agreement with data. The model is also consistent with constraints coming from Babbha scattering and supernova physics. Leptopion exchange implies a new weak interaction between leptons at low cm energies (of the order of a few MeVs), which explains the Kamiokande-Homestake puzzle. Part of the solar neutrinos are transformed in the convective zone of the Sun to right-handed neutrinos inert with respect to ordinary electroweak interactions, but interacting with electrons via leptopion exchange so that they are observed in Kamiokande. A correct average value for the neutrino flux at Kamiokande is predicted using as input the Homestake flux, and the anticorrelation with sunspots in Kamiokande is predicted to be considerably weaker than in Homestake.     

Constraining the neutrino magnetic moment with antineutrinos from the sun

We discuss the impact of different solar neutrino data on the spin-flavor-precession (SFP) mechanism of neutrino conversion. We find that, although detailed solar rates and spectra allow the SFP solution as a subleading effect, the recent KamLAND constraint on the solar antineutrino flux places stronger constraints on this mechanism. Moreover, we show that for the case of random magnetic fields inside the Sun, one obtains a more stringent constraint on the neutrino magnetic moment down to the level of mu(nu)< or = few x 10(-12)mu(B), similar to bounds obtained from star cooling.     

Vacuum solutions of neutrino anomalies through a softly broken U(1) symmetry

We discuss an extended model which naturally leads to mass scales and mixing angles relevant for understanding both the solar and atmospheric neutrino anomalies in terms of the vacuum oscillations of the three known neutrinos. The model uses a softly broken –– symmetry and contains a heavy scale GeV. The –– symmetric neutrino masses solve the atmospheric neutrino anomaly while breaking of –– generates the highly suppressed radiative mass scale needed for the vacuum solution of the solar neutrino problem. All the neutrino masses in the model are inversely related to , thus providing seesaw-type of masses without invoking any heavy right-handed neutrinos. The possible embedding of the model into an SU(5) grand unified theory is discussed. Received: 5 August 1999 / Revised version: 18 November 1999 / Published online: 6 April 2000     

Neutrino magnetic moment solution for the solar neutrino problem and the SNO experiment

The motivations for the magnetic moment solution to the solar neutrino problem are briefly reviewed and the expected values for a number of observables to be measured by the SNO experiment are calculated assuming three different solar magnetic field profiles. The observables examined are the charged current event rate, the ratio of the neutral current to the charged current event rates and the charged current electron spectrum as well as their first and second moments. The dependence of results on the hep neutrino flux is also analysed and a comparison is made with the corresponding oscillation results.     

Probing the temperature profile of energy production in the sun

The particle kinetic energies of thermonuclear pp fusion in the Sun (Gamow energy) produce small changes in the energies of pp solar neutrinos relative to those due only to exothermal energetics. This effect may be observable via the unique tools of the LENS solar neutrino detector. The temperature profile of energy production in the Sun may thus be directly probed for the first time.     

Conventional nuclear physics solution of the solar neutrino problem

A basic and inherently simple alternative explanation of the solar neutrino problem is proposed based upon conventional nuclear physics. Our results for the tunneling factor, astrophysicalS-factor, and our resolution are compared with rather speculative solutions commonly attempted by accepting the customary ingredients of the standard solar model. We present a more realistic solution of nuclear Coulomb barrier tunneling together with a more precise parametric representation of the astrophysical functionS. We determineS from high-energy (>100 keV)⁷Be(p, )⁸B experimental cross-section data using the new tunneling factor. This leads to a low-energy fusion cross section that is lower than previous estimates by 26–36%, decreasing the anticipated neutrino flux close to experimentally detected values. This may resolve the missing solar neutrino flux problem.     

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.     

MHD origin of density fluctuations deep within the Sun and their influence on neutrino oscillation parameters in LMA MSW scenario

We analyze helioseismic waves near the solar equator in the presence of magnetic fields deep within the solar radiative zone. We find that reasonable magnetic fields can significantly alter the shapes of the wave profiles for helioseismic g modes. They can do so because the existence of density gradients allows g modes to resonantly excite Alfvén waves, causing mode energy to be funneled along magnetic field lines, away from the solar equatorial plane. The resulting waveforms show comparatively sharp spikes in the density profiles at radii where these resonances take place. Such matter density waves with known spatial structure are substituted as a matter density noise into the 2×2 Schrödinger equation for ν _e,π neutrinos oscillating within the Sun. Then we reexamine the sensitivity of solar neutrino oscillations to noise in the solar interior using the best current estimates of neutrino properties. Our results show that the measurement of neutrino properties at KamLAND provides new information about fluctuations in the solar environment on scales to which standard helioseismology constraints are largely insensitive. We also show how the determination of neutrino oscillation parameters from a combined fit of KamLAND and solar data depends strongly on the magnitude of solar density fluctuations.     

The asymmetry of solar-neutrino fluxes

With effective heliolatitude L _eff(n) for each solar-neutrino run n we separate all available Homestake experimental data for more than two solar cycles (1970–1994) on three zones SOUTH, EQUATORIAL, and NORTH in dependence on the heliolatitude (where detected neutrinos cross the Sun’s surface). For each latitudinal zone, we determine the average solar electron neutrino flux and correlations with effective solar-activity parameters for asymmetrical latitudinal belts. The obtained results indicate that neutrino should have nonzero mass and nonzero magnetic moment.