Solar neutrino oscillations and the recent results of Borexino and SNO

Abstract

The present contribution reviews the latest results of the solar neutrino experiments Borexino and SNO and their impact on the standard solar model and the global analysis of neutrino oscillations: The Borexino result on the 7 Be neutrino survival probability gives, for the first time, experimental evidence of vacuum neutrino oscillations at sub-MeV energies, backing up the MSW-LMA oscillation scenario. Nevertheless, the search for non-standard effects in the transition region from vacuum to matter-dominated oscillations in the energy regime from 1 to 5 MeV is still ongoing: Both Borexino and SNO have by now published analyses of the 8 B neutrino flux below 5 MeV that provide mutually consistent but not conclusive results regarding oscillation models. The prospects of Borexino for an analysis of the 8 B neutrino flux below the present threshold of 3 MeV and for a first-time direct measurement of the pep neutrino line at 1.4 MeV in energy will be outlined.