Borexino\u00a0neutrino detector<\/a> have shown it is possible to determine both measurements simultaneously. This can be achieved by exploiting the known position of the Sun at any time, in order to work out the trajectory of electrons scattered by incoming low-energy neutrinos.<\/p>\nThe new technique paves the way for hybrid measurements that could yield fresh insights into the workings of the Sun and nuclear physics more broadly, said researchers.<\/p>\n
The research has been published in both\u00a0Physical Review Letters<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Physical Review D<\/em>.<\/p>\nWhy are physicists measuring low-energy solar neutrinos?<\/h3>\n
Solar neutrinos are created during the fusion reactions that generate the Sun\u2019s immense heat, and their detection on Earth provides knowledge regarding the different stages of those reactions. Therefore, this data reveals the relative importance of different fusion pathways for forging heavier elements from hydrogen.<\/p>\n
Additionally, these observations can also help to better understand the basic physics of nuclear decay and of neutrinos themselves.<\/p>\n
What has observation of Borexino revealed?<\/h3>\n
The Borexino neutrino detector has been at the forefront of low-energy solar neutrino research over the last 15 years. It has measured neutrino fluxes from different branches of the proton-proton chain, and more recently from the previously elusive carbon\u2013nitrogen\u2013oxygen \u2013 cycle, both of which convert hydrogen into helium in the Sun.<\/p>\n
This is done by utilising a detector that is located at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, 1,400 metres beneath a mountain in Central Italy. Currently being dismantled, that detector consisted of 280 tonnes of an extremely radio-pure liquid scintillator, which was shielded by a layer of water inside a large cylindrical tank.<\/p>\n
The detection scheme relied on picking up the tiny signals generated when incoming low-energy solar neutrinos scattered off electrons within the scintillator. More specifically, it detected the light given off by the scintillator molecules when excited by the recoiling electrons.<\/p>\n