The spectroscopy of solar sterile neutrinos

Abstract We predict the sterile neutrino spectrum of some of the key solar nuclear reactions and discuss the possibility of these being observed by the next generation of solar neutrino experiments. By using an up-to-date standard solar model with good agreement with current helioseismology and solar neutrino flux data sets, we found that from solar neutrino fluxes arriving on Earth only 3–4% correspond to the sterile neutrino. The most intense solar sources of sterile neutrinos are the pp and $$^7Be$$ 7Be nuclear reactions with a total flux of $$2.2\times 10^{9}$$ 2.2×109 and $$1.8\times 10^{8}\;{{\mathrm{cm}}^2 {\mathrm{s}}^{-1}}$$ 1.8×108cm2s-1 , followed by the $$^{13}N$$ 13N and $$^{15}O$$ 15O nuclear reactions with a total flux of $$1.9\times 10^{7}$$ 1.9×107 and $$1.7\times 10^{7}\;{\mathrm{cm}}^2\, {\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$$ 1.7×107cm2s-1 . Moreover, we compute the sterile neutrino spectra of the nuclear proton–proton nuclear reactions – pp, hep and $$^8B$$ 8B and the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen – $$^{13}N$$ 13N , $$^{15}O$$ 15O and $$^{17}F$$ 17F and the spectral lines of $$^7Be$$ 7Be