Measurement of the response of a gallium metal solar neutrino experiment to neutrinos from a {sup 51}Cr source

Journal Article · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1999 · Physical Review, C

OSTI ID:342616

The neutrino capture rate measured by the Russian-American Gallium Experiment is well below that predicted by solar models. To check the response of this experiment to low-energy neutrinos, a 517 kCi source of {sup 51}Cr was produced by irradiating 512.7 g of 92.4{percent}-enriched {sup 50}Cr in a high-flux fast neutron reactor. This source, which mainly emits monoenergetic 747-keV neutrinos, was placed at the center of a 13.1 ton target of liquid gallium and the cross section for the production of {sup 71}Ge by the inverse beta decay reaction {sup 71}Ga({nu}{sub e},e{sup {minus}}){sup 71}Ge was measured to be [5.55{plus_minus}0.60thinsp(stat){plus_minus}0.32thinsp(syst)]{times}10{sup {minus}45}thinspcm{sup 2}. The ratio of this cross section to the theoretical cross section of Bahcall for this reaction is 0.95 {plus_minus}0.12 (expt){sub {minus}0.027}{sup +0.035} (theor) and to the cross section of Haxton is 0.87{plus_minus}0.11 (expt){plus_minus}0.09 (theor). This good agreement between prediction and observation implies that the overall experimental efficiency is correctly determined and provides considerable evidence for the reliability of the solar neutrino measurement. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 342616
• Journal Information: Physical Review, C, Journal Name: Physical Review, C Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 59; ISSN 0556-2813; ISSN PRVCAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
BETA DECAY
CHROMIUM 51
CROSS SECTIONS
ELECTRON NEUTRINOS
GALLIUM 71 TARGET
NEUTRINO REACTIONS
SOLAR NEUTRINOS