Solar neutrinos: Theory versus observation

The current state of the solar neutrino problem is described. The predictions of solar models (standard and nonstandard) are reviewed. The neutrino absorption cross sections for all detectors of current interest are reviewed with special emphasis on the uncertainties that exist in the calculations for each target. A long-term program for neutrino spectroscopy of the solar interior is outlined. It is shown, in addition, that stellar collapses can be detected within the galaxy by the proposed solar neutrino detectors.     

Neutrino pair emission from the inner crust of a neutron star

It is shown that spin-orbital interaction of neutrons with clusters (nuclei or bubbles) immersed in the neutron sea of the inner crust of a neutron star can intensify substantially the neutrino pair emission (with respect to the neutrino emission in the uniform nuclear matter) at temperatures typical for the neutrino cooling epoch of the star. The neutrino pair emissivity of sub-nuclear matter is calculated both for the case when clusters are at random positions and for the case when clusters are ordered in a lattice.     

High energy neutrinos from quasars

We review and clarify the assumptions of our basic model for neutrino production in the cores of quasars, as well as those modifications to the model made subsequently by other workers. We also present a revised estimate of the neutrino background flux and spectrum obtained using more recent empirical studies of quasars and their evolution. We compare our results with other theoretical calculations and experimental upper limits on the AGN neutrino background flux. We also estimate possible neutrino fluxes from the jets of blazars detected recently by the EGRET experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. We discuss the theoretical implications of these estimates.NAS-NRC Senior Research Associate, on leave from the Physics Department, University of Utah     

Solar Neutrinos

The current status of solar neutrino experiments is reviewed. All the experimental measurements show deficits of solar neutrinos. Non monotonic suppression indicates that the problem may naturally be explained by neutrino oscillations, but not by modifying solar models. A new experiment shows very promising results. We hope that a definite answer to the question of whether solar neutrinos are oscillating will be obtained in the very near future. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Urca processes in dense matter and neutron star cooling

Urca-processes were introduced into astrophysics by Gamow and Schoenberg in 1941. Neutrino cooling resulting from urca-processes plays an important role at the latest stages of evolution of massive stars. Recent work on neutrino emissivity of dense matter shows that neutrino cooling via urca-processes could determine the thermal evolution of young neutron stars and depends dramatically on the composition of the neutron star core. In particular, if a neutron star contains a central core in which the direct urca-process is operative, the cooling timescale shortens by many orders of magnitude.     

Neutrino mass and oscillations

Present understanding of neutrino mass and mixing are discussed based on recent neutrino experiments, including solar, atmospheric, reactor and long baseline accelerator neutrino experiments. Especially, the results from the Super-Kamiokande experiment are discussed in detail.     

Aspects of neutrino astronomy

A broad overview of the current status of experimental neutrino astronomy is presented. Particular emphasis is given to the major recent developments that have occurred during the last few years. It is concluded that these developments and the next generation of experiments currently being installed signifies the coming of age of neutrino astronomy.     

High energy Neutrino Telescopes

A review of the potential of Neutrino Telescopes to contribute to Astrophysics and Elementary Particle Physics is presented. The status of the four neutrino telescopes presently under construction is reviewed. An inexpensive modular design of how to reach an 1 km² telescope with an energy threshold of a few GeV is proposed.     

Solar MHD Waves and Solar Neutrinos

We analyze here how solar neutrino experiments could detect time fluctuations of the solar neutrino flux due to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) perturbations of the solar plasma. We state that if such time fluctuations are detected, this would provide a unique signature of the Resonant Spin-Flavor Precession (RSFP) mechanism as a solution to the Solar Neutrino Problem. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Core collapse,bounce aid shock propagation

Recent developments in the physics input for iron core collapse models of type II supernovae are reviewed. The effect of these developments on collapse calculations is also discussed. The inner core collapses homologously, with little change in specific entropy, bounces in the neighborhood of nuclear density, and sets up an outward moving shock. In adiabatic models an explosion may result. The Inclusion of neutrino effects may produce substantial shock damping. Current results indicate that core collapse, bounce and shock propagation does not produce an explosion when neutrino effects are included.     

Gamma rays and neutrinos as complementary probes in astrophysics

Electrons are more susceptible to energy losses in magnetic fields and photon fields than protons. Hence, photons at various wavelengths, including gamma rays, bring more readily information on high-energy electrons than on protons. Neutrinos provide a unique tracer for protons. Furthermore, at high energies the neutrino flux can considerably exceed the gamma-ray flux, as gamma rays above ～1 MeV are degraded by γ-γ interactions in compact high-intensity sources. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) with outputs >10⁴⁵ ergs s^?1 and dimensions ～10¹⁴ cm would constitute such sources. If the AGN are powered by ultra-massive black holes, then these numerical conditions are satisfied, and at high energies the flux J _v >J _γ . Berezinsky and Ginzburg have pointed out that the photon intensity around spinars is not sufficient to cause gamma-ray degradation. These authors have demonstrated that the measurement of neutrino flux, combined with the measurement (or upper limit) of gamma-ray flux would show whether the active galactic nuclei are powered by massive black holes or spinars. We estimate that gamma rays would be degraded at spinars, too, at energies >1 GeV.     

Correction to: Determining the Relative Cratering Ages of Regions of Psyche’s Surface

Space Science Reviews - Analysis of Homestake, Gallex and GNO measurements reveals evidence of variability of presumed solar-neutrino-flux measurements. Analysis of Super-Kamiokande neutrino...     

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Calculation

I review standard big bang nucleosynthesis and some versions of nonstandard BBN. The abundances of the primordial isotopes D, He-3, and Li-7 produced in standard BBN can be calculated as a function of the baryon density with an accuracy of about 10%. For He-4 the accuracy is better than 1%. The calculated abundances agree fairly well with observations, but the baryon density of the universe cannot be determined with high precision. Possibilities for nonstandard BBN include inhomogeneous and antimatter BBN and nonzero neutrino chemical potentials.     

Explosion mechanism in supernovae collapse

The prevailing number of supernovae have come from the collapse of iron stellar cores. The 1D-hydrodynamic theory has failed, for more than 20 years of its development, to find an effective mechanism of the supernova explosion, despite the fact that it describes the characteristics neutrino pulse satisfactorily. In the present paper a scenario of rotational nature of collapsing supernova explosion is formulated and discussed.In the first stage of the collapse, a fast rotating protoneutron star is formed (quasi-1D-hydrodynamic model by Imshennik and Nadyozhin 1977, 1992). Then in the second stage it fragmentations into a short-lived neutron binary star, which results in an inevitable supernova-scale explosion of the low-mass component: energy release is just about 10⁵¹ ergs. The important effects of fragmentation, gravitational radiation, mass transfer and the explosion are investigated by both analytical and numerical methods (Aksenov and Imshennik, 1994; Imshennik and Popov, 1994; Aksenov, Blinnikov, and Imshennik, 1994, in press). A comparison of the proposed scenario with the explosion of SN 1987A is made.     

Inside and outside of supernovae

A newly formed neutron star in a supernova finds itself in a dense environment, in which the gravitational energy of accreting matter can be lost to neutrinos. For the conditions in SN 1987A, 0.1M may have fallen back onto the central neutron star on a timescale of hours after the explosion, after which the accretion rate is expected to drop sharply. Radiation is trapped in the flow until the mass accretion rate drops to 2×10^–4 M yr^–1 at which point radiation can begin to escape from the shocked envelope at an Eddington limit luminosity. Between this neutrino limit and the Eddington limit, 3×10^–8 M yr^–1, there are no steady, spherical solutions for neutron star accretion. SN 1987A should have reached the neutrino limit within a year of the explosion; the current lack of an Eddington luminosity can be attributed to black hole formation or to a clearing of the neutron star envelope. There is no evidence for newly formed neutron stars in supernovae. Radio supernovae, which were initially interpreted as pulsar activity, probably involve circumstellar interaction; SN 1993J shows especially good evidence for outer shock phenomena.     

Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere: Requirements for Future Observations

Since the publication of Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere in 1998 there has been great progress in understanding how and why cosmic rays vary in space and time. This paper discusses measurements that are needed to continue advances in relating cosmic ray variations to changes in solar and interplanetary activity and variations in the local interstellar environment. Cosmic ray acceleration and transport is an important discipline in space physics and astrophysics, but it also plays a critical role in defining the radiation environment for humans and hardware in space, and is critical to efforts to unravel the history of solar activity. Cosmic rays are measured directly by balloon-borne and space instruments, and indirectly by ground-based neutron, muon and neutrino detectors, and by measurements of cosmogenic isotopes in ice cores, tree-rings, sediments, and meteorites. The topics covered here include: what we can learn from the deep 2008–2009 solar minimum, when cosmic rays reached the highest intensities of the space era; the implications of ¹⁰Be and ¹⁴C isotope archives for past and future solar activity; the effects of variations in the size of the heliosphere; opportunities provided by the Voyagers for discovering the origin of anomalous cosmic rays and measuring cosmic-ray spectra in interstellar space; and future space missions that can continue the exciting exploration of the heliosphere that has occurred over the past 50 years.     

On the primordial black holes in the earth

Astrophysical limitations do not exclude the possibility of some number of dark matter primordial Black Holes (BH) being seeded in the interiors of the Earth at the epoch of planet condensation in the young Solar System. We show that limitations on the neutrino radiation due to the BH quantum evaporation and accretion growth of BH mass completely forbid the existence of primordial BH of any mass in the Earth.     

Time-Dependent Nuclear Decay Parameters: New Evidence for New Forces?

This paper presents an overview of recent research dealing with the question of whether nuclear decay rates (or half-lives) are time-independent constants of nature, as opposed to being parameters which can be altered by an external perturbation. If the latter is the case, this may imply the existence of some new interaction(s) which would be responsible for any observed time variation. Interest in this question has been renewed recently by evidence for a correlation between nuclear decay rates and Earth–Sun distance, and by the observation of a dip in the decay rate for ⁵⁴Mn coincident in time with the solar flare of 2006 December 13. We discuss these observations in detail, along with other hints in the literature for time-varying decay parameters, in the framework of a general phenomenology that we develop. One consequence of this phenomenology is that it is possible for different experimental groups to infer discrepant (yet technically correct) results for a half-life depending on where and how their data were taken and analyzed. A considerable amount of attention is devoted to possible mechanisms which might give rise to the reported effects, including fluctuations in the flux of solar neutrinos, and possible variations in the magnitudes of fundamental parameters, such as the fine structure constant and the electron-to-proton mass ratio. We also discuss ongoing and future experiments, along with some implications of our work for cancer treatments, ¹⁴C dating, and for the possibility of detecting the relic neutrino background.     

Neutrinos from Supernovae

Neutrinos are fundamental particles in the collapse of massive stars. Because of their weakly interacting nature, neutrinos can travel undisturbed through the stellar core and be direct probes of the still uncertain and fascinating supernova mechanism. Intriguing recent developments on the role of neutrinos during the stellar collapse are reviewed, as well as our current understanding of the flavor conversions in the stellar envelope. The detection perspectives of the next burst and of the diffuse supernova background will be also outlined. High-energy neutrinos in the GeV-PeV range can follow the MeV neutrino emission. Various scenarios concerning the production of high-energy neutrinos are discussed.     

Shortcomings of the Standard Solar Model

The SSM, invented in early nineteen sixties, remains a useful construction. There are now much larger number of its predictions that may be compared with observations than when it was first introduced. Seismic sounding based on oscillations frequencies provides the best test of the physical input for modelling stellar evolution. The results of the test must be viewed as a support for the standard theory of stellar evolution. However, significant differences in the sound-speed, photospheric He abundance, and other parameters between the Sun and the current models remain. Shortcomings in the EOS and in treatment of convection have been revealed. The differences in the sound-speed in the radiative interior may be explained by small opacity errors but other explanations are possible. Results of seismic sounding support the idea that the element mixing in the outer part of the radiative interior occurred during a significant fraction of the Sun's life. Such mixing is considered as a possible explanation of the deficit of lithium. The shortcomings of SSM cannot explain the deficits of measured neutrino fluxes. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.