Related papers: Anticipating the Sun's heavy-element abundance
The study of solar neutrinos has given since ever a fundamental contribution both to astroparticle and to elementary particle physics, offering an ideal test of solar models and offering at the same time relevant indications on the…
As dark matter appears to comprise most of the Galactic mass, some of it may accumulate in the cores of stars, thereby making the Sun a laboratory for constraining various dark matter theories. We consider the effects on the solar structure…
Solar neutrinos coming from different nuclear reactions are now detected with a high statistics. Consequently, an accurate spectroscopic analysis of the neutrino fluxes arriving on the Earth's detectors become available, in the context of…
The Sun provides a standard reference against which we compare the chemical abundances found anywhere else in the Universe. Nevertheless, there is not a unique 'solar' composition, since the chemical abundances found in the solar interior,…
While standard solar model (SSM) predictions depend on approximately 20 input parameters, SSM neutrino flux predictions are strongly correlated with a single model output parameter, the core temperature $T_c$. Consequently, one can extract…
New experimental results, if correct, require at least one light sterile neutrino, in addition to the three active ones, to accommodate the mass differences required to explain the solar $\nu_e$ deficit, the anomalous $\nu/e$ ratio produced…
A new concept is proposed to solve the solar neutrino problem, that is based on a hypothesis about the existence of semi-weak interaction of electron neutrinos with nucleons mediated by massless pseudoscalar bosons. Owing to about 10…
Relic neutrinos from the early universe are predicted to have a relatively large number density, but extremely low energies. Hence, the only possible interaction proceeds via neutrino capture on beta-decaying nuclei. In case relic neutrinos…
Is the Sun likely to have a more opaque interior than previously thought? The solar oxygen (or abundance) problem can be solved with higher interior opacities, reconciling abundance analyses based on 3D convective atmospheres with the…
The study of neutrinos is fundamental to connect astrophysics and elementary particle physics. In this last decade solar neutrino experiments and KamLAND confirmed the LMA solution and further clarified the mass and oscillation pattern.…
By plotting empirical chemical element abundances on Earth relative to the Sun and normalized to silicon versus their first ionization potentials, we confirm the existence of a correlation reported earlier. To explain this, we develop a…
The Sun is used as the fundamental standard in chemical abundance studies, thus it is important to know whether the solar abundance pattern is representative of the solar neighborhood. Albeit at low precision (0.05 - 0.10 dex) the Sun seems…
The anomalously slow rotation of the solar core is just one from a remarkable lists of fundamental indications showing that the solar core is somehow coupled to the surface activity cycle. On the other hand, the atmospheric, LSND and solar…
Precision measurements of solar neutrinos emitted by specific nuclear reaction chains in the Sun are of great interest for developing an improved understanding of star formation and evolution. Given the expected neutrino fluxes and known…
Lithium detectors have a high sensitivity to CNO neutrinos from the Sun. The present experimental data and prospects for future experiments on the detection of CNO neutrinos are discussed. A nonstationary case is considered when the flux of…
Four operating neutrino observatories confirm the long standing discrepancy between detected and predicted solar neutrino flux. Among these four experiments the Homestake experiment is taking data for almost 25 years. The reliability of the…
Recent studies have shown that the elemental abundances in the Sun are anomalous when compared to most (about 85%) nearby solar twin stars. Compared to its twins, the Sun exhibits a deficiency of refractory elements (those with condensation…
Quantitative data on the solar wind, solar magnetic fields, solar eruptions, solar neutrinos, and on the planetary material orbiting the Sun all indicate the presence of an iron-rich solar interior and a neutron star at the core of the Sun.…
A specific linear combination of the total solar neutrino fluxes must equal the measured solar photon luminosity if nuclear fusion reactions among light elements are responsible for solar energy generation. This luminosity constraint,…
After a short survey of the physics of solar neutrinos, giving an overview of hydrogen burning reactions, predictions of standard solar models and results of solar neutrino experiments, we discuss the solar-model-independent indications in…