The $^7$Be Solar Neutrino Line: A Reflection of the Central Temperature Distribution of the Sun

Abstract

A precise test of the theory of stellar evolution can be performed by measuring the average difference in energy between the neutrino line produced by ${\rm ^7Be}$ electron capture in the solar interior and the corresponding neutrino line produced in a terrestrial laboratory. This energy shift is calculated to be 1.29~keV (to an accuracy of a few percent) for the dominant ground-state to ground-state transition. The energy shift is approximately equal to the average temperature of the solar core, computed by integrating the temperature over the solar interior with a weighting factor equal to the locally-produced $^7$Be neutrino emission. The characteristic modulation of the ${\rm ^7Be}$ line shape that would be caused by either vacuum neutrino oscillations or by matter-enhanced (MSW) neutrino oscillations is shown to be small. Other frequently-discussed weak interaction solutions to the solar neutrino problem are also not expected to change significantly the line profile. Therefore, a measurement of the energy shift is a measurement of the central temperature distribution of the sun.