Sensitivity to neutrinos from the solar CNO cycle in Borexino

Neutrinos emitted in the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen (CNO) fusion cycle in the Sun are a sub-dominant, yet crucial component of solar neutrinos whose flux has not been measured yet. The Borexino experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy) has a unique opportunity to detect them directly thanks to the detector’s radiopurity and the precise understanding of the detector backgrounds. We discuss the sensitivity of Borexino to CNO neutrinos, which is based on the strategies we adopted to constrain the rates of the two most relevant background sources, $$pep$$ pep neutrinos from the solar pp-chain and $$^{210}$$ 210 Bi beta decays originating in the intrinsic contamination of the liquid scintillator with $$^{210}$$ 210 Pb. Assuming the CNO flux predicted by the high-metallicity Standard Solar Model and an exposure of 1000 days $$\times $$ × 71.3 t, Borexino has a median sensitivity to CNO neutrino higher than 3 $$\sigma $$ σ . With the same hypothesis the expected experimental uncertainty on the CNO neutrino flux is 23%, provided the uncertainty on the independent estimate of the $$^{210}\text {Bi}$$ 210 Bi interaction rate is 1.5 $$\hbox {cpd}/100~\hbox {ton}$$ cpd / 100 ton . Finally, we evaluated the expected uncertainty of the C and N abundances and the expected discrimination significance between the high and low metallicity Standard Solar Models (HZ and LZ) with future more precise measurement of the CNO solar neutrino flux.

Modelling R Coronae Borealis stars: effects of He-burning shell temperature and metallicity

ABSTRACT The R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars are extremely hydrogen-deficient carbon stars that produce large amounts of dust, causing sudden deep declines in brightness. They are believed to be formed primarily through white dwarf mergers. In this paper, we use mesa to investigate how post-merger objects with a range of initial He-burning shell temperatures from 2.1 to 5.4 × 108 K with solar and subsolar metallicities evolve into RCB stars. The most successful model of these has subsolar metallicity and an initial temperature near 3 × 108 K. We find a strong dependence on initial He-burning shell temperature for surface abundances of elements involved in the CNO cycle, as well as differences in effective temperature and radius of RCBs. Elements involved in nucleosynthesis present around 1 dex diminished surface abundances in the 10 per cent solar metallicity models, with the exception of carbon and lithium that are discussed in detail. Models with subsolar metallicities also exhibit longer lifetimes than their solar counterparts. Additionally, we find that convective mixing of the burned material occurs only in the first few years of post-merger evolution, after which the surface abundances are constant during and after the RCB phase, providing evidence for why these stars show a strong enhancement of partial He-burning products.

Ghostly Particles from the Sun Confirm Nuclear Fusion

Using the Borexino particle detector—located deep underground in Italy—researchers spot elusive neutrinos from the Sun’s CNO cycle.

Revisited solar neutrino fluxes and CNO-cycle lifetimes using recent cross-section factor data from pp-chain reactions

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Heavy metals in intermediate He-rich hot subdwarfs: the chemical composition of HZ 44 and HD 127493

Context. Hot subluminous stars can be spectroscopically classified as subdwarf B (sdB) and O (sdO) stars. While the latter are predominantly hydrogen deficient, the former are mostly helium deficient. The atmospheres of most sdOs are almost devoid of hydrogen, whereas a small group of hot subdwarf stars of mixed H/He composition exists, showing extreme metal abundance anomalies. Whether such intermediate helium-rich (iHe) subdwarf stars provide an evolutionary link between the dominant classes is an open question. Aims. The presence of strong Ge, Sn, and Pb lines in the UV spectrum of HZ 44 suggests a strong enrichment of heavy elements in this iHe-sdO star and calls for a detailed quantitative spectral analysis focusing on trans-iron elements. Methods. Non-local thermodynamical equilibrium model atmospheres and synthetic spectra calculated with TLUSTY/SYNSPEC were combined with high-quality optical, ultraviolet (UV), and far-UV (FUV) spectra of HZ 44 and its hotter sibling HD 127493 to determine their atmospheric parameters and metal abundance patterns. Results. By collecting atomic data from the literature we succeeded in determining the abundances of 29 metals in HZ 44, including the trans-iron elements Ga, Ge, As, Se, Zr, Sn, and Pb and providing upper limits for ten other metals. This makes it the best-described hot subdwarf in terms of chemical composition. For HD 127493 the abundance of 15 metals, including Ga, Ge, and Pb and upper limits for another 16 metals were derived. Heavy elements turn out to be overabundant by one to four orders of magnitude with respect to the Sun. Zr and Pb are among the most enriched elements. Conclusions. The C, N, and O abundance for both stars can be explained by the nucleosynthesis of hydrogen burning in the CNO cycle along with the stars’ helium enrichment. On the other hand, the heavy-element anomalies are unlikely to be caused by nucleosynthesis. Instead diffusion processes are evoked, with radiative levitation overcoming gravitational settlement of the heavy elements.

Constant light element abundances suggest that the extended P1 in NGC 2808 is not a consequence of CNO-cycle nucleosynthesis

Recent photometric results have identified a new population among globular cluster stars. This population, referred to as the ‘extended P1', has been suggested to be the manifestation of a new abundance pattern where the initial mass fraction of He changes among cluster stars that share the same CNO values. The current paradigm for the formation of the multiple stellar populations in globular clusters assumes that variations in He are the product of chemical ‘enrichment’ by the ashes of the CNO-cycle (which changes He and other elements like C, N and O simultaneously). We obtained MIKE@Magellan spectra of six giant stars in NGC 2808, a cluster with one of the strongest examples of the extended P1 population. We provide the first complete characterization of the light elements abundances for the stars along a significant range of the extended P1 photometric group. The stars from our sample appear to be homogeneous in C, N, O, Na, Mg and Al. The lack of a significant change in these products of the CNO-cycle suggests that unlike the rest of the populations identified to date, the photometric changes responsible for the extended P1 feature are a consequence of an alternative mechanism. Our measurements are consistent with the interpretations where the changes of the He mass fraction among these stars could be a consequence of p–p chain nucleosynthesis (which could increase the He in stars without affecting heavier elements). Having said that, direct measurements of He are necessary to conclude if variations of this element are present among extended P1 stars.