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Comprehensive measurement of pp-chain solar neutrinos

Nature volume 562, pages 505–510 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

About 99 per cent of solar energy is produced through sequences of nuclear reactions that convert hydrogen into helium, starting from the fusion of two protons (the pp chain). The neutrinos emitted by five of these reactions represent a unique probe of the Sun’s internal working and, at the same time, offer an intense natural neutrino beam for fundamental physics. Here we report a complete study of the pp chain. We measure the neutrino–electron elastic-scattering rates for neutrinos produced by four reactions of the chain: the initial proton–proton fusion, the electron-capture decay of beryllium-7, the three-body proton–electron–proton (pep) fusion, here measured with the highest precision so far achieved, and the boron-8 beta decay, measured with the lowest energy threshold. We also set a limit on the neutrino flux produced by the 3He–proton fusion (hep). These measurements provide a direct determination of the relative intensity of the two primary terminations of the pp chain (pp-I and pp-II) and an indication that the temperature profile in the Sun is more compatible with solar models that assume high surface metallicity. We also determine the survival probability of solar electron neutrinos at different energies, thus probing simultaneously and with high precision the neutrino flavour-conversion paradigm, both in vacuum and in matter-dominated regimes.

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Fig. 1: Nuclear fusion sequences and neutrino energy spectrum.
Fig. 2: Results of the fit used to extract the neutrino signal.
Fig. 3: Electron neutrino survival probability Pee as a function of neutrino energy.
Fig. 4: Borexino results and analysis in the Φ(7Be)–Φ(8B) space.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are freely available in the repository https://bxopen.lngs.infn.it/. Additional information is available from the Borexino Collaboration spokesperson (spokesperson-borex@lngs.infn.it) upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The Borexino programme is made possible by funding from INFN (Italy), NSF (USA), BMBF, DFG, HGF and MPG (Germany), RFBR (grants 16-29-13014ofi-m and 17-02-00305A), RSF (grant 17-12-01009) (Russia), and NCN (grant number UMO 2017/26/M/ST2/00915) (Poland). We acknowledge also the computing services of the Bologna INFN-CNAF data centre and LNGS Computing and Network Service (Italy), of Jülich Supercomputing Centre at FZJ (Germany), and of ACK Cyfronet AGH Cracow (Poland). We acknowledge the hospitality and support of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy).

Reviewer information

Nature thanks A. Serenelli and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Author information

Author notes

  1. D. Bravo

    Present address: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain

  2. F. Lombardi

    Present address: Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

  3. S. Marcocci

    Present address: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL, USA

  4. N. Rossi

    Present address: Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma e INFN, Rome, Italy

  5. Y. Suvorov

    Present address: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi Federico II e INFN, Naples, Italy

  6. A list of participants and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany

    M. Agostini, K. Altenmüller, S. Appel, D. Jeschke, B. Neumair, L. Oberauer, L. Papp, S. Schönert & F. von Feilitzsch

  2. National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russia

    V. Atroshchenko, E. Litvinovich, G. Lukyanchenko, L. Lukyanchenko, I. Machulin, V. Orekhov, G. Raikov, M. Skorokhvatov, Y. Suvorov & M. Toropova

  3. Institut für Kernphysik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

    Z. Bagdasarian, L. Ludhova, Ö. Penek & M. Redchuk

  4. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi e INFN, Milano, Italy

    D. Basilico, G. Bellini, D. Bravo, B. Caccianiga, S. Caprioli, L. Collica, D. D’Angelo, A. Formozov, M. Giammarchi, P. Lombardi, E. Meroni, L. Miramonti, G. Ranucci & A. Re

  5. Chemical Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    J. Benziger

  6. Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    D. Bick, C. Hagner & B. Opitz

  7. INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi, Italy

    G. Bonfini, M. Carlini, P. Cavalcante, X. F. Ding, F. Gabriele, C. Ghiano, A. Goretti, D. Guffanti, Aldo Ianni, M. Laubenstein, F. Lombardi, S. Marcocci, A. Razeto, R. Roncin, N. Rossi, L. F. F. Stokes, R. Tartaglia & F. L. Villante

  8. Physics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    F. Calaprice, A. Di Ludovico, C. Galbiati & Andrea Ianni

  9. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi e INFN, Genova, Italy

    A. Caminata, S. Davini, L. Di Noto, G. Manuzio, M. Pallavicini, G. Testera & S. Zavatarelli

  10. Physics Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    P. Cavalcante, R. B. Vogelaar & Z. Yokley

  11. Lomonosov Moscow State University Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow, Russia

    A. Chepurnov, A. Formozov & M. Gromov

  12. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

    K. Choi

  13. St Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC Kurchatov Institute, Gatchina, Russia

    A. Derbin, I. Drachnev, V. Muratova, N. Pilipenko, D. Semenov & E. Unzhakov

  14. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy

    X. F. Ding, C. Galbiati, D. Guffanti & S. Marcocci

  15. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia

    K. Fomenko, A. Formozov, D. Korablev, O. Smirnov, A. Sotnikov, A. Vishneva & O. Zaimidoroga

  16. AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Univ. Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/IRFU, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France

    D. Franco, T. Houdy, D. Kryn & R. Roncin

  17. Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    E. Hungerford & G. Korga

  18. Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, Canfranc Estacion Huesca, Spain

    Aldo Ianni

  19. M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

    A. Jany, M. Misiaszek, M. Wojcik & G. Zuzel

  20. Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research, Kiev, Ukraine

    V. Kobychev

  21. National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), Moscow, Russia

    E. Litvinovich, I. Machulin & M. Skorokhvatov

  22. RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    L. Ludhova, Ö. Penek & M. Redchuk

  23. Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    J. Martyn, A. Porcelli, S. Weinz & M. Wurm

  24. Department of Physics, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    M. Meyer, J. Thurn & K. Zuber

  25. Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi e INFN, Perugia, Italy

    F. Ortica & A. Romani

  26. Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Physics Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

    A. Pocar

  27. Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, California, USA

    Y. Suvorov & H. Wang

  28. Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche, Università dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    F. L. Villante

Consortia

The Borexino Collaboration

  • M. Agostini
  • , K. Altenmüller
  • , S. Appel
  • , V. Atroshchenko
  • , Z. Bagdasarian
  • , D. Basilico
  • , G. Bellini
  • , J. Benziger
  • , D. Bick
  • , G. Bonfini
  • , D. Bravo
  • , B. Caccianiga
  • , F. Calaprice
  • , A. Caminata
  • , S. Caprioli
  • , M. Carlini
  • , P. Cavalcante
  • , A. Chepurnov
  • , K. Choi
  • , L. Collica
  • , D. D’Angelo
  • , S. Davini
  • , A. Derbin
  • , X. F. Ding
  • , A. Di Ludovico
  • , L. Di Noto
  • , I. Drachnev
  • , K. Fomenko
  • , A. Formozov
  • , D. Franco
  • , F. Gabriele
  • , C. Galbiati
  • , C. Ghiano
  • , M. Giammarchi
  • , A. Goretti
  • , M. Gromov
  • , D. Guffanti
  • , C. Hagner
  • , T. Houdy
  • , E. Hungerford
  • , Aldo Ianni
  • , Andrea Ianni
  • , A. Jany
  • , D. Jeschke
  • , V. Kobychev
  • , D. Korablev
  • , G. Korga
  • , D. Kryn
  • , M. Laubenstein
  • , E. Litvinovich
  • , F. Lombardi
  • , P. Lombardi
  • , L. Ludhova
  • , G. Lukyanchenko
  • , L. Lukyanchenko
  • , I. Machulin
  • , G. Manuzio
  • , S. Marcocci
  • , J. Martyn
  • , E. Meroni
  • , M. Meyer
  • , L. Miramonti
  • , M. Misiaszek
  • , V. Muratova
  • , B. Neumair
  • , L. Oberauer
  • , B. Opitz
  • , V. Orekhov
  • , F. Ortica
  • , M. Pallavicini
  • , L. Papp
  • , Ö. Penek
  • , N. Pilipenko
  • , A. Pocar
  • , A. Porcelli
  • , G. Raikov
  • , G. Ranucci
  • , A. Razeto
  • , A. Re
  • , M. Redchuk
  • , A. Romani
  • , R. Roncin
  • , N. Rossi
  • , S. Schönert
  • , D. Semenov
  • , M. Skorokhvatov
  • , O. Smirnov
  • , A. Sotnikov
  • , L. F. F. Stokes
  • , Y. Suvorov
  • , R. Tartaglia
  • , G. Testera
  • , J. Thurn
  • , M. Toropova
  • , E. Unzhakov
  • , F. L. Villante
  • , A. Vishneva
  • , R. B. Vogelaar
  • , F. von Feilitzsch
  • , H. Wang
  • , S. Weinz
  • , M. Wojcik
  • , M. Wurm
  • , Z. Yokley
  • , O. Zaimidoroga
  • , S. Zavatarelli
  • , K. Zuber
  •  & G. Zuzel

Contributions

The Borexino detector was designed, constructed, and commissioned by the Borexino Collaboration over the span of more than 15 years. The Borexino Collaboration sets the science goals. Scintillator purification and handling, source calibration campaigns, photomultiplier tube and electronics operations, signal processing and data acquisition, Monte Carlo simulations of the detector, and data analyses were performed by Borexino members, who also discussed and approved the scientific results. This manuscript was prepared by a subgroup of authors appointed by the Collaboration and subjected to an internal collaboration-wide review process. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Caccianiga.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 The Borexino detector.

Schematic view of the ‘onion-like’ structure of the Borexino apparatus. From outside to inside: the external water tank; the Stainless Steel Sphere, where about 2,200 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are mounted; the outermost nylon vessel, which serves as a barrier against radon; the innermost nylon vessel, which contains 300 t of liquid scintillator, the active detection medium.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Frequentist hypothesis test of MSW-LMA versus vacuum-LMA.

The probability distribution of the test statistics t is obtained by simulating thousands of sets of Pee values (at the pp, 7Be, pep and 8B energies) in the MSW-LMA hypothesis (red curve on the left) and in the vacuum-LMA hypothesis (blue curve on the right). The dotted black line corresponds to the results of Borexino discussed in the main text.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Frequentist hypothesis test for LZ and HZ.

The probability distribution of the test statistics t is obtained by simulating thousands of fake sets of 8B–7Be values in the HZ hypothesis (red curve on the left) and in the LZ hypothesis (blue curve on the right). The dotted black line corresponds to the results of Borexino discussed in the main text.

Extended Data Table 1 LER analysis systematics
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 HER analysis systematics
Full size table

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The Borexino Collaboration. Comprehensive measurement of pp-chain solar neutrinos. Nature 562, 505–510 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0624-y

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