Neutrino Production
Hydrogen is fused into helium through several different interactions in the Sun. The vast majority of neutrinos are produced through the pp chain, a process in which four protons are combined to produce two protons, two neutrons, two positrons, and two electron neutrinos. Neutrinos are also produced by the CNO cycle, but that process is considerably less important in the Sun than in other stars.
Most of the neutrinos produced in the Sun come from the first step of the pp chain but their energy is so low (<0.425 MeV) they are very difficult to detect. A rare side branch of the pp chain produces the "boron-8" neutrinos with a maximum energy of roughly 15 MeV, and these are the easiest neutrinos to detect. A very rare interaction in the pp chain produces the "hep" neutrinos, the highest energy neutrinos predicted to be produced by the Sun. They are predicted to have a maximum energy of about 18 MeV.
All of the interactions described above produce neutrinos with a spectrum of energies. The electron capture of 7Be produces neutrinos at either roughly 0.862 MeV (~90%) or 0.384 MeV (~10%).
Read more about this topic: Standard Solar Model
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“Just as modern mass production requires the standardization of commodities, so the social process requires standardization of man, and this standardization is called equality.”
—Erich Fromm (19001980)