Borexino new @arxiv submission alert https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚨" title="Police cars revolving light" aria-label="Emoji: Police cars revolving light"> : “Sensitivity to neutrinos from the solar https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☀️" title="Sun with rays" aria-label="Emoji: Sun with rays"> CNO cycle in Borexino”
https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.12829 ">https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.... #Borexino #neutrinos Thread 1/n

CNO stands for carbon, nitrogen, oxygen cycle of proton-proton fusion to helium. It is expected to contribute about 1% of the total energy of the Sun. So why are CNO neutrinos the next holy grail https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🏆" title="Trophy" aria-label="Emoji: Trophy"> of solar neutrino physics? 2/n

First of all, CNO process is expected to be dominant in the stars heavier than the Sun https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☀️" title="Sun with rays" aria-label="Emoji: Sun with rays"> (>1.3 solar mass). And the Sun remains our standard candle https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🕯" title="Candle" aria-label="Emoji: Candle"> for understanding many processes in the stars https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✨" title="Sparkles" aria-label="Emoji: Sparkles"> far far away. 3/n

Second, solar neutrinos are the only direct probe of the processes happening in the core https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="♥️" title="Heart suit" aria-label="Emoji: Heart suit"> of the Sun https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="☀️" title="Sun with rays" aria-label="Emoji: Sun with rays">.
And while pp-chain neutrinos helped us a lot to understand the energy production, CNO neutrinos are the most sensitive to the so-called metallicity of the core. 4/n

The Sun metallicity (the abundance of elements heavier than helium) is aan unresolved puzzle https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧩" title="Puzzle piece" aria-label="Emoji: Puzzle piece">: currently, there are Standard Solar Models with different hypotheses about the Sun’s surface metallicity. #physicistslovepuzzles 5/n

In this paper, we explore the sensitivity of the Borexino experiment to 1) the observation of CNO neutrinos 2) discrimination of between and high and low metallicity Standard Solar Models. 6/n

The methods and various approaches, as well as physics behind, are described in great detail, which can partly serve as the guide not only for #Borexino but other future experiments hunting for CNO neutrinos. 7/7 #staytuned