[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Colloquium today at 14:00

[postmaster at admin.triumf.ca]

Date/Time: Thu 2009-04-16 at 14:00

Location:  Auditorium          

Speaker:   Wick Haxton (University of Washington, Seattle)

Title:     Solar Neutrinos and Solar System Metals

Abstract: I discuss some recent work with Aldo Serenelli that discusses the use of future new solar neutrino experiments, such as SNO+, to constrain the metal content of the solar core.  The probe is the CN cycle solar neutrino branch, which contributes to solar energy production at the 1% level.   One of the reasons such a measurement could be important is the conflict that has recently arisen between improved determinations of photospheric abundances and helioseismology, which is sensitive to the sun's interior metals.  I describe a speculative scenario where this discrepancy is real, and connected with late-stage evolution of the solar system disk, when planetary formation removed approximately 50 earth masses of metal from the remaining nebular gas.  That is, future solar neutrino experiments may tell us about the fate of 2500 earth masses of nebular gas that was partially scrubbed of metal when Jupiter and Saturn formed.

Stimulants available 15 minutes before the talk.

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