ecCNO Solar Neutrinos: A Challenge for Gigantic Ultra-Pure Liquid Scintillator Detectors

Abstract

Neutrinos produced in the Sun by electron capture reactions on $^{13}{\rm N}$, $^{15}{\rm O}$ and $^{17}{\rm F}$, to which we refer as ecCNO neutrinos, are not usually considered in solar neutrino analysis since the expected fluxes are extremely low. The experimental determination of this sub-dominant component of the solar neutrino flux is very difficult but could be rewarding since it provides a determination of the metallic content of the solar core and, moreover, probes the solar neutrino survival probability in the transition region at $E_\nu\sim 2.5\,{\rm MeV}$. In this letter, we suggest that this difficult measure could be at reach for future gigantic ultra-pure liquid scintillator detectors, such as LENA.