Tireless neutrinos

1994/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

An American astrophysicist proposes a new method for knowing the inner reactions of the stars. The new procedure is to accurately measure the energy of neutrinos from the sun.

John Bahcall first proposed, 30 years ago, to measure the flow of neutrino in the sun. Scientists continue to look for ways to explain the curious and surprising results of these measurements. At Anart, Bahcall prepares new experiments with solar neutrinos.

Bahcall's latest idea is related to a specific nuclear reaction that takes place in the Sun zone, with which the beryllium-7 nucleus catches an electron and becomes law-7. This reaction emits a neutrino. In laboratory reactions, the neutrino energy is 861.94 kiloelectrovolts (keV). However, based on current astrophysical theories, the solar neurons generated by Bahcall in this process would have more energy: 862.27 keV.

This reaction occurs only near the solar center, where 4% of the solar mass is concentrated. Therefore, if the neutrino provided by Bahcall were found, the current astrophysical theory would indicate that the standards are directly related to the inner structure of the sun.

Several ways have been proposed to measure this neutrino and the first sessions can be held at the end of this decade.