Speaker
Dr
Livia Ludhova
(INFN Milano (IT))
Description
Borexino is a large-volume liquid scintillator detector installed in
the underground halls of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in
Italy. After several years of construction, the Borexino phase I
ended after about 3 years of data taking and a period of purification of the scintillator. All Borexino results within its solar neutrino program and their physical implications will be reviewed: the first real time measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino interaction rate, obtained with a precision below 5%, and the absence of its day-night asymmetry with 1.4% precision; the first direct evidence of the pep neutrino signal and the strongest experimental constraint of the CNO solar neutrino flux to date;
the measurement of the solar 8B neutrino rate with 3 MeV energy threshold. Borexino has also made sensitive measurements of antineutrinos, both terrestrial (geoneutrinos) and astrophysical, setting the best limits on a hypothetical antineutrino flux from the Sun assuming undistorted 8B spectrum. Along with sensitive searches for exotic processes, Borexino is now preparing to make a precise time-of-flight measurement of neutrinos from the CNGS beam. If available at the time of the ICHEP2012 conference, new results concerning the neutrino speed and/or update of the geo-neutrino measurement could be presented.
Author
Dr
Livia Ludhova
(INFN Milano (IT))
