Solar Neutrinos: Where We Are, What We Need

Abstract

This talk compares standard model predictions with the results of solar neutrino experiments. Here `standard model' means the combined standard model of minimal electroweak theory plus a standard solar model. I emphasize the importance of recent analyses in which the neutrino fluxes are treated as free parameters, independent of any constraints from solar models, and the stunning agreement between the predictions of standard solar models and helioseismological measurements. In order to interpret solar neutrino experiments more accurately in terms of fundamental physics and astronomy, we need improved improved nuclear physics data. I describe the five most important nuclear physics problems whose solution is required for understanding the precise implications of solar neutrino experiments.