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Session 22 - Hale Prize Lecture.
Invited session, Monday, June 10
Union Theater,
The solar neutrino experiment in the Homestake Gold Mine was built in the period 1965-1967 to measure the flux of neutrinos from the proton-proton chain of nuclear fusion reactions that provide the solar energy. Observing the neutrino flux and accounting for the neutrino capture rate by solar model calculations would provide evidence for the specific nuclear processes believed to be the source of the solar energy. It is well known that this goal of solar neutrino astronomy has not been achieved satisfactorily, even though three other experiments are presently observing the solar neutrino spectrum, and many revised solar models have been advanced. The Homestake experiment has observed the solar neutrino capture rate during the period 1970 to the present time. As the data accumulated, there appeared to be a variation in the solar neutrino flux that anti-correlated with the solar activity cycle. Many individual investigators have studied the statistical significance of a correlation of the neutrino capture rates with many observed solar phenomena. During the last few years an analysis of the data 1970- 1992 have revealed a remarkable correlation with solar magnetic fields and the coronal green line intensities on the solar surface measured along the neutrino path between the core of the Sun and the Earth. This subject will be reviewed and discussed in terms of theory of the precession of the helicity of the neutrino in passing through solar magnetic fields and solar matter.
