Technological Novelties and Scientific Discoveries with the Borexino Experiment

Abstract

The Borexino experiment has developed, in its 32 years of activity, techniques and methods that allow for unprecedented radiopurity levels, which continue to be the current state of the art. These pioneering techniques and methods represent a new standard for ultra-low-background physics, a legacy that Borexino leaves to future experiments studying low-energy neutrinos and searching for rare events with detectors operating deep underground. The Borexino experiment leaves an equally influential scientific legacy with its discoveries and precise measurements of the nuclear processes that cause the Sun and stars to shine. Thanks to its unparalleled low background in the energy window of ∼150 keV to ∼15 MeV, the Borexino experiment also has contributed significantly to the understanding of neutrino oscillations with the observation of the energy-dependent matter to vacuum-dominated flavor conversion probability of solar neutrinos. Along with this textbook-quality body of solar neutrino results, the Borexino experiment has contributed to the study of the Earth's mantle radioactivity with background-free measurements of geoneutrinos. This article presents an overview of the long-lasting Borexino results and of the experimental efforts required to achieve them.