What is a Neutrino?

Neutrinos are sub-atomic particles that have no charge and due to there nature they interact
weakly with other matter (NOBweb.) As we will soon see neutrinos are released when certain
nuclear reactions take place in the core of the Sun. The Sun produces neutrinos at such a
prodigious rate that 100 billion of them pass through an adults thumbnail every second
(NOBweb.) However, they interact with matter so weakly that a single neutrino has a one in 100
billion chance to interact with matter as it passes through the Earth. The low probability of a
neutrino interacting with matter makes measuring them difficult. At the commencement of the
first solar neutrino experiment the standard particle model stipulated that neutrinos had no mass.
Standard Solar Model
During the nineteen and the twentieth centuries the Standard Solar Model was developed. This
was based on observational evidence and what we can deduce from studies of related
phenomena. One of the bases of this model is that the Sun is in thermal and hydrostatic
equilibrium (Freedman and Kaufmann p 403 - 413.)
Observations have shown that the Sun is not becoming significantly hotter and cooler. This leads
us to the conclusion that all heat generated in the Sun is radiated away at the same rate as it is
produced. Also, the temperature increases with depth due to the known fact that compressed
gasses become hotter. The temperature increases with depth but is constant at each depth. This is
the equilibrium state.
Hydrostatic equilibrium is indicated by the fast that the Sun is neither collapsing nor expanding.
At any particular layer the pressure from the overlaying material, including the layer its self, is
the same as the upward pressure caused by escaping energy from the nuclear fusion reactions
below.
Within the Sun pressure and density increases with depth, as indicated by the equilibrium state.
To maintain this situation the energy generated in the sun there must be transportation
mechanism. In the sun there are two mechanisms: convection and radiative diffusion.
Conduction is also a possibility for the transfer of heat but it is not considered an important
mechanism. It is believed that radiative diffusion takes place within the 71% of the Suns radius
(Freedman and Kaufmann p 409 - 411.) In the upper 29% convection takes place.
Solar models must take into consideration thermal equilibrium, hydrostatic equilibrium, energy
production and the transportation mechanisms present in the Sun. The models must also be
supported by observation of the Suns surface. One surface observation that has been useful is
helioseismology. Helioseismology has been used to confirm certain physical propeties of the
Sun.
The standard solar models has given us important physical properties of the suns core. It shows
that the density is 160 000kgm-3, has a temperature of 1.5 x 107K and a pressure of 3.4x
1011 atmospheres. With the use of the model it has been demonstrated that 94% of the mass of

the Sun is within 0.5 radii of the centre and that energy production is limited to within the lowest
quarter of the radius.
The production of energy in the sun is via the conversion of hydrogen nuclei to helium. By far
the greatest process this is achieved through is the proton-proton (p-p) chain (98.5%.)
Approximately 1.5% of the energy generated by the Sun is via the CNO cycle (Bahcall,
Gonzalez-Garcia and Pena-Garay, 2003.) The overall p-p reaction is:
4p + 4He + 2e+ + 2 e + 25MeV
Every second 600 million tons of hydrogen is converted to 596 million tons of helium
(Miramonti, 2009.) The remaining 4 million ton is converted to energy which given that the Sun
is in thermal equilibrium means that the suns current luminosity is 4 x 1026W.
The dominant reactions in the p-p chain convert four hydrogen nuclei to helium releasing 4.3 x
10-12 J of energy (shown as ppI in fig 1.) The process does not use any intermediate elements. In
this process only the first stage results in a neutrino with a maximum energy of 0.42MeV (fig 2.)
The measurement of the neutrino flux from this reaction constrains the overall rate of conversion
of hydrogen to helium in the p-p chain (Haxton, 2007.)

There are a number of side branches in the p-p chain (fig 1.) The two most common are called
ppII and ppIII. The ppII and ppIII branches separate after the second step in the main branch (ie
ppI.) The 3He collides with a 4He particle to form 7Be. The 7Be then either undergoes electron
capture (ppII) or proton capture (ppIII.)
In the ppII branch the electron capture results in the production of a neutrino. The resultant
neutrinos are at two energy levels of 0.38 and 0.86MeV with the later being in 90% of the cases
(Haxton, 1995.)
In the ppIII branch the decay of 8B results in the release of a neutrino. This is a high energy
neutrino with a maximum energy of about 15MeV. Due to their high energies the neutrons
formed in this reaction are the most accessible (Haxton, 1995.)
Experiment
Homestake
The first experiment to detect solar neutrinos was undertaken by Raymond Davis. The project got
underway after Bahcall showed that Davis proposed experiment would be sensitive to the high
energy 8B neutrinos. The detection of neutrinos using chorine was first proposed by Pontecorvo and
Alvarex (Haxton, 1995.)
The Homestake experiment used a radiochemical technique using perchloroethylene (C 2Cl4,) a
common cleaning fluid. The chemical was used as it was rich in chorine. When a neutrino interacted
with a chlorine atom a radioactive isotope of argon is produced in this equation:
37

Cl + e 37Ar + e-

The detector used a tank of 390 000L of C2Cl4 constructed in the Homestake Gold Mine in South
Dakota. To negate the effects of any other solar radiation the detector was constructed at a depth of
1480m. The energy threshold for the generation of 37Ar is 814keV. At that threshold the detector was
sensitive to 8B and higher energy 7Be neutrinos (as indicated in fig 2.) It also had sensitivity to
neutrinos produced by the pep reaction and the CNO cycle.
The physical properties of 37Ar make it a useful medium. It is an noble gas that is easily removed
from C2Cl4. Its half-life of 35 days gave a reasonable measurement time. To remove the gas at the
end of each recording period helium was circulated through the liquid. The gas was then processed
with the gas ending up in a charcoal trap. This was then heated, and passed through a heated titanium
filter to remove reactive gases. After further concentration through chromatography the gas was then
placed in a counter and counting would continue for one year. When all factors were taken into
considerations the detector detected 25 neutrinos every year (Haxton, 1995.)
Due to the nature of this experiment the direction from which the neutrino arrived from could not be
determined.
Bahcalls calculations predicted a rate of approximately 7.6 SNU (1 SNU = I
capture/second/1036 atoms) based on the standard solar model (Haxton, 1995.) The rate measured by
Davis was 2.56 SNU (Miramonti, 2009.) This rate was a third of the predicted value. This result gave
birth to the Solar Neutrino Problem.
Three major areas were proposed to explain the discrepancy in the theoretical and observed neutrino
captures in Davis detector. Bahcall checked and refined his model for neutrino production and
capture and found no significant errors. Likewise, Davis tested his detector in a number of ways and
increased its sensitivity and he found no significant errors. The third was not taken seriously at the
time when Bruno Pontecorvo and Vladimir Gribov proposed that neutrinos were not fully
understood.

Kamiokande
The Kamiokande detector was originally built in the Kamioka Mine in Japan to study the stability of
protons and neutrons (Haxton, 1995.). It was later upgraded with the aim of studying solar neutrinos.
The detector was later upgraded to increase its sensitivity from 7.5MeV to 7.0MeV. The detector was
very sensitive at high energies (NOBweb.)
The detector utilised 4500 tones of highly purified water and photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to
measure Cherenkov radiation (Haxton, 1995.) In this experiment the Cherenkov radiation was the
light emitted as an electron recoils after a neutrino electron collision due to it having a velocity
greater than the speed of light in water. The inner 4140 tons of water was monitored by 948 PMTs.
The outer 1.5m of water served as an anti-counter and was monitored by 123 PMTs. Only the events
in the inner-most 630 tons of water were observed to eliminate any gamma-ray events. The imaged
volume is known as the fiducial volume.
Due to the high energy threshold of the detector it was sensitive to the 8B neutrinos at the higher end
of their spectrum. It detected both electron and muon-neutrinos with a ratio of 7:1 respectively
(Haxton, 1995.)
The Kamiokande experiment had a few advantages over the Homestake experiment. The most import
of these was that the direction from which the observed neutrino had originated from could be
determined. Over the course of the experiment it was clearly demonstrated that the neutrinos
originated from the Sun. Also the energy of the arriving particles could determined. The spectrum of
the neutrinos agreed with the predicted spectrum of the 8B neutrino spectrum. The experiment also
gave real-time results.
Like the previous Homestake experiment Kamiokande found that the neutrino flux was less than
expected. After 1040 observing days it was found that the flux was 46% of that predicted from
standard solar model (Hirata et al, 1990.) The data was checked for error but no significant errors
where found. The data in the result covers two reported periods. The first from 1978 to 1988 (450
observing days) gave a result of 45%. The second period between 1988 and 1990 (590 observing
days) resulted in a flux of 45% of the predicted flux.
The observed number of events was higher than the Homestake experiment due to the nature of the
detector. This is because the Homestake detector only had sensitivity to electron-neutrinos. The
Kamiokande detector had some sensitivity to the other types of neutrinos hence the higher measured
flux.

GALLEX
As stated in the section on the standard solar section the initial stage of the p-p chain gives the rate of
the overall p-p chain reaction rate. For that reason it is important to measure the flux from this
reaction. The two radiochemical experiments (GALLEX and SAGE) where designed for this
purpose.
The Gallium Experiment (GALLEX) was undertaken in the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy at a depth
of 3300m. The experiment was operational from 1991 to 1997. After maintenance of the chemical

plants and electronics the detector recommenced operations under the name of GNO (Gallium
Neutrino Observatory) which is still operational. (GNOweb.)
The detector used 101 tons of GaCl3 solution in water and hydrochloric acid. The solution contained
20.3 tons of natural gallium (Haxton, 1995.) When a neutrino interacts with a gallium atom a
radioactive germanium atom is produced via the reaction below. The half life of the Ge is 16.5 days
(Bellerive, 2003.)
71

Ga + e 71Ge + e-

With a threshold of 233keV this detector was sensitive to the higher energy pp neutrinos. This was
important as Bahcall thought he could more accurately determine the number of low energy events as
the flux of neutrinos is constrained by the luminosity of the Sun. Calculations showed that the
measured events in the detector were 53% from pp neutrinos, 27% from 7Be neutrinos, 12% from 8B
neutrinos and 8% from CNO neutrinos (GNOweb.)
Like the Homestake experiment the two gallium detectors had a run of a set period and therefore
were not real-time detectors. At the end of a run (about 3 weeks) nitrogen gas was pumped through
the solution to extract the 71Ge. It was then converted to GeH4 and placed in the counters with xenon
gas. The sample was then observed for six months. The results showed that two peaks at 10.4keV (K
peak) and 1.2kev (L peak.) These where used to compare the results to natural radiation.
An important feature of these detectors is that they could be calibrated by terrestrial sources
(NOBweb.) The GALLEX detector was calibrated by using a 51Cr source.
The original GALLEX experiment measured a flux of 77.5 SNU over 65 runs. Under GNO a flux of
65.2 SNU was measured. Combining the two the result is 70.8 SNU over 100 runs taken over 2834
observing days. The standard solar model predicts a flux of 129 SNU (Bellerive, 2003.) The
measured flux was 55% of what was expected.
SAGE
The Russian-American Gallium Experiment (SAGE) was built in the Baksan Neutrino Observatory
in the northern Caucasus Mountains in Russia. The detector was at a depth of 4700m and used 50
tons of liquid metallic gallium (Haxton, 1995.)
The detector was sensitive to the same energy level and to the same neutrinos as the GALLEX
experiment. The 71Ge was extracted by vigorously mixing the target with a mixture of hydrogen
peroxide and dilute hydrochloric acid. This produced an emulsion where the germanium is first
oxidized before being dissolved by the hydrochloric acid. The germanium is then extracted as
GeCl4 which is then purified, concentrated and converted to GeH4. The extraction of the germanium
is about 80% efficient. The radioactive decay of the germanium is then conducted in the same
manner as in the GALLEX experiment.
As with the GALLEX experiment SAGE found a neutrino flux less than that predicted by the
standard solar model. The measured flux was about 64.5 SNU or approximately 50% of the predicted
value.

Super-Kamiokande
Super-Kamiokande was the follow up to the Kamiokande experiment. Its main aim was to study
atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillations. As with Kamiokande the detector was an imaging water
Cherenkov detector constructed in the Kamioka mine in Japan (Bellerive, 2003.) The project
underwent two phases separated by remedial measures following an accident involving the explosion
of PMTs (Cravens et al, 2008.)
The detector contained 50 000 tons of ultra-purified water (Bellerive, 2003) that was continually
purified. The outer detector provided a shield for cosmic ray muons and external low energy
background. The outer detector was monitored with 1885 PMTs. The inner detector contained 32 000
tons of water with a fiducial volume of 25 000 tons. The inner detector was monitored by 11 146
PMTs. Measures were taken to minimise background events caused by radon emitted from the
surrounding rock.
With an energy threshold of 5MeV (for the early part of the experiment the threshold was 6.5MeV)
the detector was sensitive to neutrinos resulting from the decay of 8B. One part of the experiment
was to test if there was variation in events between night and day to test a prediction that neutrinos
underwent oscillation as they passed through Earth. Due to its large volume the detector provided
highly accurate measurements of neutrino flux.
After 1496 observing days the measured flux (2.35 x 106 cm-2 sec-1) from phase one was 46.5% of
that expected from the standard solar model (Hosata et al, 2005.) The experiment also found that
variations in the flux varied due to the eccentricity of the Earths orbit.
The second phase produced similar results. The measured flux was 2.38 x 10 6 cm-2 sec-1 (Cravens et
al, 2008.) It found that the flux appeared to be higher during night-time but uncertainties still allowed
for the flux to be the same for both night and day.
SudburyNeutrino Observatory
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a 1 000 ton heavy-water Cherenkov detector. It was
constructed in the Creighton Mine in Canada at a depth of 2 000m (Bellerive, 2003.)
It differs from the Kamiokande detectors by the use of heavy-water (D2O.) The vessel holding the
heavy water is surrounded by an array of 9 456 PMTs. The cavity around the detector is filled by 7
000 tons of ultra pure water providing support and shielding.

The detector is mainly sensitive to 8B neutrinos. and mainly to electron-neutrinos but the use of
heavy water allowed some sensitivity to muon- and tau-neutrinos. The electron-neutrinos are
detected by a charged-current (CC) interaction while the other two neutrino types are detected
through neutral-current (NC) and elastic scattering (ES) interactions (Bellerive, 2003):
CC:

d + e p + p + e- specific to electron-neutrinos

NC:

d + x n + p + x

ES:

x + e- x + e- predominately electron-neutrinos

where x = e, or

For the first time the NC interactions were observed in this experiment. This was important as this
interaction measures the total flux of neutrinos.
Detection of the rates at which each reaction takes place can determine if neutrinos oscillate on their
journey from the Suns core to Earth. The determination of which neutrinos react is given from the
following relationships:
CC = e
ES = e + 0.15
NC = e +
These relationships show that CC interactions only take place with electron-neutrinos, ES with
predominately electron-neutrinos but also with the other two flavours and NC with all neutrino types.
In the first of three phases of the SNO experiment the vessel contained pure heavy water. Cherenkov
light is produced when neutrons are captured. The energy threshold was about 5MeV. The results of
this stage where as follows (Bellerive, 2003):
CC = ~1.76 x 106 cm-2 sec-1
ES = ~2.39 x 106 cm-2 sec-1
NC = ~5.09 x 106 cm-2 sec-1
The higher value of NC over the other two interactions indicates neutrino oscillation. Furthermore
the measured NC was close to the predicted 8B neutrino flux (~5.05 x 106 cm-2 sec-1) by the standard
solar model (Bellerive, 2003.) This was clear statistical evidence for neutrino oscillation. This phase
did not find any clear evidence for a variation between day and night variations in the neutrino flux.
The second phase of the SNO project used heavy water with about 2 tons of NaCl added to enhance
neutron detection. The addition of the salt also provided a more accurate measure of the NC
interactions by eliminating some assumptions about the CC and ES energy spectra. The results were
comparable with the first stage of the experiment and provided further evidence that neutrino
oscillation does occur. The results from this stage were as follows (Bellerive, 2003):

 CC = ~1.59 x 106 cm-2 sec-1

ES = ~2.21 x 106 cm-2 sec-1
NC = ~5.21 x 106 cm-2 sec-1
The third and final phase of the project used 3He proportional counters immersed in the heavy water
(Aharmim, 2008.) Thirty six active strings of detectors where used. This arrangement allowed for
more accurate measurement of the NC interactions and hence the total solar neutrino flux. The result
was in agreement with the other two phases of the experiment:
NC = ~5.54 x 106 cm-2 sec-1
The SNO experiment provided the answer to the solar neutrino problem.
Neutrino Oscillations
What SNO proved was that neutrinos change, or oscillate, as they travel between the core of the Sun
and Earth. The electron-neutrino emitted in the core can change to muon- and tau-neutrinos. An
important implication of this is that neutrinos are not mass-less as dictated by the standard particle
model (NOBweb)
In 1978 Wolfenstein (1978) proposed that neutrino oscillations take place within the sun. This occurs
due the forward scattering of neutrinos. This could occur even if the neutrinos where mass-less. The
model has been subsequently improved through the work of Mikheev and Smirnov such that the
oscillations can exhibit resonance behaviour due to the propagation through matter with different
densities (IPNweb.) The effect is known as the Mikheyev Smirnov Wolfenstein (MSW) effect.
The effect is particularly strong on electron-neutrinos as they can propagate while having chargedcurrent [CC] interactions with electrons in addition to the neutral-current [NC] interactions.
However, this process is only significant at higher neutrino energies (NOBweb) so it didnt explain
why low energy neutrinos also appear to oscillate.
At lower energies neutrinos undergo vacuum oscillation. For this to occur the different states must
have finite masses (INDweb.) Neutrinos can be described in terms of their mass or by the particles
that they are associated with (ie electron, muon or tau, NOBweb.) The relationship between these
two descriptions are constrained in what are called mixing angles. For oscillation to occur each
favour must have different masses (INDweb.) This allows for changes as a neutrino passes through a
vacuum and the probability that a neutrino will oscillate is based on its energy and the distance
travelled. The measurement of the mixing angle started in the SNO project and is still being refined.
As we will see shortly there is a transition between the low energy mass-related oscillations and the
low energy vacuum oscillations.
Conclusion
From our understanding of the processes that occur in the Sum we can determine the number of solar
neutrinos that pass through a given area. This idea was the foundations of testing if our understanding
of solar processes was correct. If we could measure the correct number neutrinos we would have

direct physical proof that our models are correct. This was important as prior to the solar neutrino
experiments all our modelling and calculations were mainly from observations rather than
measurements.
The early radiochemical experiments indicated a deficit in neutrino triggered events in the detectors.
In the case of Homestake the results were about a third of what was expected due to only being
sensitive to electron-neutrinos. The following water-based experiment (ie Kamiokande) resulted in
about 45% due to being partly sensitive to other neutrino types.
The radiochemical gallium experiments of GALLEX and SAGE where sensitive to lower energy
neutrinos from the pp reaction. The results were still less than expected at 55% and 50% respectively.
These experiments demonstrated that both high and low energy neutrinos were missing.
The larger water-based experiment of Super-Kamiokande still found only 46% of the neutrinos
expected.
The missing neutrinos were a great concern to astronomers and physicists alike. The experiments
were designed to test the standard solar model. However, the number of neutrinos was not as
expected. The idea that the model was wrong did not fit with other observations. It appeared that our
understanding of the way neutrinos behaved was not quite correct.
The heavy-water SNO experiment conclusively found that indeed our understanding of neutrino
physics was incomplete. The experiment found the missing neutrinos and gained insight into the
processes that changed the neutrinos as they travelled from the core of the Sun to the Earth. This
discovering had the implication that neutrinos were not mass-less as previously stipulated in the
standard particle mode. The standard particle model had to change.
Since the completion of the SNO experiment other projects have further constrained our
understanding of neutrinos and how they oscillate as they travel through both matter and a vacuum. It
turns out that neutrinos with energies above 5MeV are predominately changed to other types of
neutrinos in matter (i.e. within the sun.) For particles with energies less than 2MeV they oscillate
predominately in the vacuum between the Sun and Earth. Between the two there is a smooth
transition. This behaviour is described in the LMA-MSW theory.

Supernova Neutrinos
When a massive star at the end of its life collapses to a neutron star, it radiates almost all of its
binding energy in the form of neutrinos, most of which have energies in the range 10-30 MeV.
These neutrinos come in all flavors, and are emitted over a timescale of several tens of seconds.
The neutrino luminosity of a gravitational collapse-driven supernova is typically 100 times its
optical luminosity.
The neutrino signal emerges from the core of a star promptly after core collapse, whereas the
photon signal may take hours or days to emerge from the stellar envelope. The neutrino signal
can therefore give information about the very early stages of core collapse, which is inaccessible
to other kinds of astronomy. In fact, an optical supernova display may never be seen at all for a
given core collapse: some collapsing stars may never blow up into supernovae, or the star may
live in an obscured region of the galaxy.

A supernova is an explosion of a massive supergiant star. It may shine with the

brightness of 10 billion suns! The total energy output may be 1044 joules, as much as
the total output of the sun during its 10 billion year lifetime. The likely scenario is
that fusion proceeds to build up a core of iron. The "iron group" of elements around
mass number A=60 are the most tightly bound nuclei, so no more energy can be
gotten from nuclear fusion.