The coulomb dissociation of 8B and the 8B solar neutrino flux

Abstract

The rate of the 7 Be ( p, γ ) 8 B nuclear reaction, directly related to the production of 8 B in the sun, is most uncertain and yield one of the largest uncertainty in the standard solar model estimate of the 8 B solar neutrino flux. We discuss a first attempt to measure this reaction rate via the Coulomb dissociation method. Our initial results are consistent with the lower value of the cross section, as measured by Filippone et al., as well as allow for an estimate of the p-wave contribution that needs to be corrected for. Our preliminary result suggest a 8 B solar neutrino flux which is 25–30% smaller than predicted by the various standard solar model of Bahcall et al.