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Solar neutrinos and galactic contamination of the Sun

Abstract

ONLY recently-published observations permit a useful estimate of the total accretion of interstellar matter (ISM) by the Sun since it became a main sequence star. Using measurements from the OAO-2 satellite, Jenkins and Savage1 conclude that “… possibly the most secure estimate of the amount of hydrogen within 1 kpc of the Sun is … an overall density nH (total) = 1.5 atoms cm−3 (in the form of protons, atoms and molecules)”. Using this number we suggest here a possible explanation of the low observed solar neutrino rate.

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AUMAN, J., MCCREA, W. Solar neutrinos and galactic contamination of the Sun. Nature 262, 560–561 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/262560a0

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