# Comment on the broadening of the 7Be neutrino line in vacuum oscillation solutions of the solar neutrino problem

## Abstract

We consider the effect of thermal broadening of the <sup>7</sup>Be neutrino on vacuum oscillation solutions of the solar neutrino problem and analyze the conditions under which the electron-neutrino survival probability must be averaged over neutrino energy. For “just-so” solutions with $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ of order $`5\times 10^{11}\mathrm{eV}^2`$ averaging is not necessary, but for much larger values, it is. We analyze the effective broadening due to the extended production region in the Sun and find similar results. We also comment on the possibility of seasonal variations of the <sup>7</sup>Be neutrino signal.

PACS numbers: 26.65.+t, 14.60.Pq, 96.40.Tv

In “just-so” and other vacuum oscillation solutions of the solar neutrino problem, it is customary to replace the distance $`(L)`$ dependent factor $`P(L,E_\nu )=\mathrm{sin}^2\left(\mathrm{\Delta }m^2L_{}/E_\nu \right)`$ by its average value of $`1/2`$ when it oscillates rapidly over the spectra of pp or <sup>8</sup>B neutrinos. The <sup>7</sup>Be neutrinos, however, arise from an electron-capture process and are therefore mono-energetic. If the thermal broadening of the <sup>7</sup>Be line is large compared with the energy width of a single oscillation, then the averaging procedure is still valid; but if the broadening is small, then averaging is not valid and it becomes necessary to “fine tune” the oscillation parameters to be consistent with experimental data.

Here we analyze the conditions under which averaging is or is not valid, and we show that it is not valid for “just-so” solutions which appear to be consistent with the observed anomaly at the high-energy end of the recoil electron spectrum. We also analyze the effective broadening induced by the finite size of the solar region in which <sup>7</sup>Be neutrinos are produced. Finally we study the conditions for seasonal variations in the <sup>7</sup>Be neutrino signal.

To perform this analysis, we re-express $`P(L,E_\nu )`$ in terms of the energy at which its phase is $`\pi /2`$:

$$1.27\mathrm{\Delta }m^2\frac{d_{}}{E_{\pi /2}}=\frac{\pi }{2};\mathrm{\Delta }m^2=8.27\times 10^{12}E_{\pi /2}.$$
(1)   
For a fixed solar distance $`d_{}`$, $`1.5\times 10^8`$ km, this is entirely equivalent to the usual $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ characterization with energies in MeV and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ in eV<sup>2</sup>. The survival probability of solar electron-type neutrinos arriving at Earth from the Sun is then given by:

$$P(\nu _e\nu _e;E_\nu )=1\mathrm{sin}^22\theta \mathrm{sin}^2\left(\frac{\pi }{2}\frac{E_{\pi /2}}{E_\nu }\right).$$
(2)   
It reaches its minimum value of $`(1\mathrm{sin}^22\theta )`$ at an energy of $`E_{\pi /2}`$, and then increases monotonically to 1 as $`E_\nu `$ increases.

Suppose now that the neutrino energy changes by a small amount:

$$E_\nu E_\nu \pm \delta .$$
(3)   
Then $`P(L,E_\nu )`$ becomes:

$$\mathrm{sin}^2\left(\frac{\pi }{2}\frac{E_{\pi /2}}{E_\nu }\right)\mathrm{sin}^2\left(\frac{\pi }{2}\frac{E_{\pi /2}}{E_\nu }[1\frac{\delta }{E_\nu }]\right).$$
(4)   
For a significant change in the value of the function, the additional phase induced by $`\pm \delta `$ must be of order $`\frac{\pi }{2}`$. This will happen when

$$\frac{\delta }{E_\nu }\frac{E_\nu }{E_{\pi /2}}.$$
(5)   
In the case of <sup>7</sup>Be neutrinos, the energy and width are:

$$E_\nu =860\mathrm{keV};\delta 1\mathrm{keV}.$$
(6)   
Fitting the shape of the recoil spectrum requires:

$$E_{\pi /2}69\mathrm{MeV}.$$
(7)   
Thus $`\delta /E_\nu `$ is of order $`10^3`$, while $`E_\nu /E_{\pi /2}`$ is much larger, namely of order $`10^1`$, and so the condition above is not satisfied. This means that the width of the <sup>7</sup>Be line does not cause more than a 1-2$`\%`$ change in $`P(L,E_\nu )`$.

We can turn this argument around and ask that, given the energy and width of <sup>7</sup>Be neutrinos, the parameters $`E_{\pi /2}`$ and its equivalent $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ be chosen so as to give a large change in $`P(L,E_\nu )`$. From the above analysis, we find that $`E_{\pi /2}`$ must be about one thousand times larger than the <sup>7</sup>Be neutrino energy:

$$E_{\pi /2}1000\mathrm{MeV};$$
(8)   
and the corresponding $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ increases by two orders of magnitude above the initial case,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m^28\times 10^9\mathrm{eV}^2.$$
(9)   
Besides the thermal broadening of the <sup>7</sup>Be line, another feature that can cause changes in the phase of $`P(L,E_\nu )`$ is the finite extent of the production region in the Sun for <sup>7</sup>Be neutrinos. This region is about $`10\%`$ of the solar radius, or $`10^5`$ kilometers, and is small compared with the solar distance $`d_{}`$, $`10^8`$ km. We can think of it as causing a change in the value of $`E_{\pi /2}`$ by one part in a thousand. Such a small fractional change will not have a significant affect on the distance-dependent factor for $`E_{\pi /2}`$ in the range of 6-9 MeV; but for the much larger value of $`E_{\pi /2}`$ given in the last equation it will cause a large variation and it will be necessary to average $`P(L,E_\nu )`$ over the production region.

The variation in the Earth-Sun distance due to the eccentricity of the orbit of the Earth can also be regarded as a small variation in $`E_{\pi /2}`$. As we have shown before, this does not cause a significant seasonal variation in the <sup>7</sup>Be signal for $`E_{\pi /2}=6\mathrm{MeV}`$, but it does for $`E_{\pi /2}=9\mathrm{MeV}`$. As $`E_{\pi /2}`$ grows to about $`50\mathrm{Mev}`$, the oscillations in the signal become quite pronounced, and for much larger values they eventually become so rapid that again an average may need to be performed. The corresponding values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ are roughly $`8\times 10^{11}\mathrm{eV}^2`$, $`4\times 10^{10}\mathrm{eV}^2`$, and $`4\times 10^9\mathrm{eV}^2`$ respectively.

The need for an average in the eccentricity case is determined by the rate at which observations of the <sup>7</sup>Be signal are made. In the SAGE and GALLEX experiments, for example, the observations are made over approximately 22 days, and so an average will be required if eccentricity-induced oscillations have a much smaller period. In experiments like BOREXINO, the neutrinos will be detected in real time, and one might be able to trace out oscillations whose period is long compared to the average interval between successive events.