Solar neutrino problem

Solar neutrino problem
Measurements of the neutrinos vs. solar's interior models
Former Standard Model
Neutrino is massless; fixed ratio between the number of neutrinos and the number of photons in the cosmic microwave background
Observation
Only detected between 1/3 and 1/2 of predicted number; neutrino oscillation
Resolutions
Neutrinos with mass change type; Detection of multiple neutrino types

The solar neutrino problem was a major discrepancy between measurements of the numbers of neutrinos flowing through the Earth and theoretical models of the solar interior, lasting from the mid-1960s to about 2002. The discrepancy has since been resolved by new understanding of neutrino physics, requiring a modification of the Standard Model of particle physics - specifically, neutrino oscillation. Essentially, if neutrinos have mass, then they can change from the type that had been expected to be produced in the sun's interior into a type that would not be caught by the detectors in use at the time.

Introduction

The sun is a natural nuclear fusion reactor, mainly fusing four hydrogen nuclei (protons) to helium, neutrinos and energy through a Proton-proton chain reaction. The energy is released as gamma rays and as kinetic energy of the particles, including the neutrinos — which travel from the sun's core to Earth without any appreciable absorption by the sun's outer layers.

As neutrino detectors became accurate enough to measure the flow of neutrinos from the sun, it became clear that researchers weren't getting as many of them as the models of nuclear burning in the Sun predicted. In various experiments, the number of detected neutrinos was between 1/3 and 1/2 of the predicted number. This came to be known as the solar neutrino problem.

Measurements

The first experiment to detect the effects of neutrino oscillations was Ray Davis's Homestake Experiment, in which he observed a deficit in the flux of solar neutrinos using a chlorine-based detector. Many subsequent radiochemical and water Cerenkov detectors confirmed the deficit, including the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

In 2002 Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba won part of the Nobel Prize in Physics for experimental work that found the number of solar neutrinos was around a third of the number predicted by the Standard Solar Model.

Proposed solutions

Changes to the Solar Model

Early attempts to explain the discrepancy proposed that the models of the sun were wrong, i.e. the temperature and pressure in the interior of the sun were substantially different from what was believed. For example, since neutrinos measure the amount of current nuclear fusion, it was suggested that the nuclear processes in the core of the sun might have temporarily shut down. Since it takes thousands of years for heat energy to move from the core to the surface of the sun, this would not immediately be apparent.

However, these solutions were rendered untenable by advances in helioseismology, the study of how waves propagate through the sun. Based on such observations, it became possible to measure the interior temperatures of the sun and these agreed with the standard solar models. (There are unresolved problems of the structure of what was found with helioseismology. Instead of the old "pot-on-the-stove" model of vertical convection, horizontal jet streams were found in the top layer of the convective zone. Small ones were found around each pole and larger ones extended to the equator. As might be expected, these had different velocities.)

Changes to the Standard Model

Currently, the solar neutrino problem is believed to have resulted from an inadequate understanding of the properties of neutrinos. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, there are three different kinds of neutrinos: electron neutrinos (which are the ones produced in the sun and the ones detected by the above-mentioned experiments), muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos. In the 1970s, it was widely believed that neutrinos were massless and their types were invariant. However, theoreticians in the 1980s realized that if neutrinos had mass, then they could change from one type to another. Thus, the "missing" solar neutrinos could be electron neutrinos which changed into other types along the way to Earth and therefore escaped detection.

Resolution

The supernova 1987A produced an indication that neutrinos might have mass, because of the difference in time of arrival of the neutrinos detected at Kamiokande, and the small number detected versus the convective overturn model of supernovae. However, the data was insufficient to draw any conclusions with certainty.

The first strong evidence for neutrino oscillation came in 1998 from the Super-Kamiokande collaboration in Japan. It produced observations consistent with muon-neutrinos (produced in the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays) changing into tau-neutrinos. Actually all that was proved was that fewer neutrinos were detected coming through the Earth than could be detected coming directly above the detector. Not only that, their observations only concerned muon neutrinos coming from the interaction of cosmic rays with the Earth's atmosphere. No tau neutrinos were observed at Super-Kamiokande. More direct evidence came in 2002 from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) in Canada. It detected all types of neutrinos coming from the sun, and was able to distinguish between electron-neutrinos and the other two flavors. After extensive statistical analysis, it was found that about 35% of the arriving solar neutrinos are electron-neutrinos, with the others being muon- or tau-neutrinos. The total number of detected neutrinos agrees quite well with the earlier predictions from nuclear physics, based on the fusion reactions inside the sun.

The solar neutrino problem was solved by research scientists from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. (See also Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.)

References

External links

Neutrinooszillation | Problema dei neutrini solari | Napneutrínó probléma | ニュートリノ振動 | Problem neutrin słonecznych

Sun | Particle physics

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Solar neutrino problem