0
What else can I help you with?
What is a solar neutrinos?
Solar neutrinos are electron neutrinos that are in the sun. The sun is what produces nuclear fusion.
How can neutrino oscillation explain the solar neutrino problem?
The solar neutrino problem relates to the discrepancy between the proportions of the different flavours of neutrinos emitted by the sun in the theoretical model as opposed to experimental measurements. Whilst the sun primarily emitts electron neutrinos, neutrino observatories such as SNO+ detected neutrinos in roughly equal proportions of the three flavours; furthermore the quantity of electron neutrinos detected was less than the theoretically predicted value. Both of these can be explained by neutrino oscillation - in which the neutrinos alter their mass to change their flavour (ie. an electron neutrinos gain mass to change to a muon neutrino). This would also explain the relative lack of electron neutrinos, thus solving the solar neutrino problem!
What happens to the neutrinos that are produced in the proton-proton chain?
They head out of the sun at nearly the speed of light
What are quarks and neutrinos?
Quarks are fundamental particles that combine to form protons and neutrons, which are components of atomic nuclei. They come in six types, known as "flavors": up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom, and they interact through the strong force. Neutrinos, on the other hand, are also fundamental particles but are neutral and extremely light, making them interact very weakly with matter. They come in three types corresponding to the three charged leptons: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos, and are produced in various nuclear reactions, such as those in the sun.
Are neutrinos mediated by electromagnetic interaction?
No, neutrinos are mediated by weak interactions, Photons are mediated by electromagnetic interactions.
What is a solar neutrinos?
Solar neutrinos are electron neutrinos that are in the sun. The sun is what produces nuclear fusion.
What can penetrate the sun?
Neutrinos.
Why does the sun emit neutrinos?
The sun emits neutrinos as a byproduct of nuclear fusion reactions happening in its core. These reactions produce high-energy particles, including neutrinos, which are released into space.
Can neutrinos change into other types of neutrinos?
Yes; the scienific terminology for this phenomenon is "neutrino oscillation". Neutrinos exist in three different flavours - electron, muon and tao neutrinos, listed in order of increasing mass (each also has an antiparticle). Although it is not know why this is the case, it was originally discovered that neutrinos oscillate when examining the neutrinos emitted by the sun; although primarily electron neutrinos are emitted as a result of the fusion process within the sun, the quantities of the different flavours of neutrinos detected on Earth from the sun are in roughly equal proportions.
Astronomers are interested in solar neutrinos because neutrinos carry with them information about?
The nuclear reactions going on in the heart of the Sun.
Explanation of missing solar neutrinos?
Neutrinos are incredibly hard to detect so the "absence" of neutrinos doesn't mean they are not there. It was long thought that neutrinos did not decay. We now know they do so. Thus, the lower than expected number of neutrinos detected coming from the Sun has been fully explained. It took four decades but the problem is now fully resolved.
Why do photons take so much longer than neutrinos to emerge from the sun?
Photons take longer to emerge from the sun compared to neutrinos because they interact more frequently with the sun's dense matter, causing them to be absorbed and re-emitted multiple times before finally escaping. Neutrinos, on the other hand, hardly interact with matter and can easily pass through the sun, allowing them to emerge much faster.
What does a neutrinos do?
Neutrinos are elementary particles that travel close to the speed of light, lack an electric charge, are able to pass through ordinary matter almost undisturbed and are thus extremely difficult to detect. Neutrinos have a minuscule, but non-zero, mass that was too small to be measured as of 2007.
What is the origin of neutrinos and where do neutrinos come from?
Neutrinos are subatomic particles that were created during the Big Bang, the event that started the universe. They are also produced in nuclear reactions, such as those that occur in the sun and other stars. Neutrinos can also be generated in high-energy processes, like those that happen in supernovae and particle accelerators.
Where do astrophysical neutrinos come from?
They originate from nuclear reactions, such as those that take place in a star, when cosmic rays hit atoms and in supernovae.
Is the sun producing the expected amount of neutrinos?
Because gravity overcomes electron degeneracy pressure and the electrons are forced into the nuclei. When the electrons enter the nucleus they merge with the protons emitting neutrinos. The nuclei then merge leaving a neutron star held up by neutron degeneracy pressure or gravity makes it collapse to a black hole.
What do neutrinos have to do with thermonuclear fusion that takes place in the Sun?
Neutrinos are generated by nuclear fusion, when a proton becomes a neutron. In nuclear decay, when a neutron becomes a proton and an electron, anti-neutrinos are created. As part of the process of fusion (stellar nucleosynthesis), energy is released in the form of gamma rays (photons) and neutrinos. At the high density near the center of the Sun, the gamma rays are almost immediately absorbed by other atoms. The heated atom emits a photon, which is then reabsorbed by another atom. By conduction, and later by convection, energy is carried by photons very slowly to the solar surface (estimates range from 10,000 to 170,000 years for this energy to reach the photosphere). Neutrinos, on the other hand, have no charge and very little mass. Almost all will pass through even the dense mass of the Sun's interior, and move at nearly the speed of light out into space. Many trillions of neutrinos pass harmlessly through the Earth every second. Detecting these particles can help confirm theories about fusion within the Sun.
