paper

Solar neutrino oscillations and bounds on neutrino magnetic moment and solar magnetic field

arXiv:hep-ph/0209192 · doi:10.1016/S0370-2693(02)03182-9

Abstract

If the observed deficit of solar neutrinos is due to neutrino oscillations, neutrino conversions caused by the interaction of their transition magnetic moments with the solar magnetic field (spin-flavour precession) can still be present at a subdominant level. In that case, the combined action of neutrino oscillations and spin-flavour precession can lead to a small but observable flux of electron antineutrinos coming from the sun. Non-observation of these nuebar's could set limits on neutrino transition moment μand the strength and coordinate dependence of the solar magnetic field B_\perp. The sensitivity of the nuebar flux to the product μB_\perp is strongest in the case of the vacuum oscillation (VO) solution of the solar neutrino problem; in the case of the LOW solution, it is weaker, and it is the weakest for the LMA solution. For different solutions, different characteristics of the solar magnetic field B_\perp(r) are probed: for the VO solution, the nuebar flux is determined by the integral of B_\perp(r) over the solar convective zone, for LMA it is determined by the magnitude of B_\perp in the neutrino production region, and for LOW it depends on the competition between this magnitude and the derivative of B_\perp(r) at the surface of the sun.

LaTeX, 16 pages, 2 eps figures. References added; discussion of the LOW case modified

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