Measuring the Neutrino Luminosity of the Sun—LENS & MINILENS

Abstract

The LENS detector will be a real time spectrometer sensitive to the sub‐MeV part of the solar neutrino spectrum, including pp‐neutrinos which dominate the solar neutrino fiux. LENS will measure the Neutrino‐inferred Luminosity of the sun with high precision, which will allow a test of current standard and nonstandard neutrino flavor conversion models along with the solar model in a single experiment, and might open doors to new physics. In addition, the Gamow‐energy shift in the pp‐neutrino spectrum could be measured, directly probing the temperature profile of pp fusion in the solar core, thus bringing solar neutrino physics back to its original astrophysical objective, i.e. the study of the sun. The experimental tool used is tagged capture of νe's on 115In via charged current interaction. Tremendous progress has been achieved in the detector design, In liquid scintillator chemistry and background rejection study. A novel design for a liquid scintillator detector, the “Scintillation Lattice Chamber” will provide 3‐dimensional spatial resolution in a large mass of liquid scintillator. The feasibility of LENS with less than 200t of scintillator has been established.