Solar neutrinos

Within the last decade solar neutrino physics has evolved into a field of relevance not only for probing our understanding of stellar physics, but also for investigating and pinpointing intrinsic neutrino properties, most importantly neutrino masses and mixing angles. To date, results from six different and partly complementary experiments have been acquired. Taken together, these experimental data provide evidence for neutrino oscillations, i.e. neutrino masses and mixing, and thus physics beyond the standard model of electroweak interactions. Several new experiments currently being planned or constructed will commence operation within the next few years. They will provide additional complementary data and allow—together with the already running detectors—performance of a full solar neutrino spectroscopy in both the charged-current and the neutral-current detection mode. Performing a thorough comparison of the spectral shape observed on Earth and the neutrino spectrum expected from solar model computations will be essential for further pinpointing neutrino masses and mixing parameters. This article, after giving a short introduction to the field, reviews the current status of solar neutrino physics and gives an outlook on the potential which the upcoming experiments offer for further progress. 3 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. 0034-4885/01/010097+50$90.00 © 2001 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 97 98 M F Altmann et al