Electron energy spectra, fluxes, and day-night asymmetries of 8B solar neutrinos from measurements with NaCl dissolved in the heavy-water detector at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Results are reported from the complete salt phase of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experiment in which NaCl was dissolved in the H22O ( D2O ) target. The addition of salt enhanced the signal from neutron capture as compared to the pure D2O detector. By making a statistical separation of charged-current events from other types based on event-isotropy criteria, the effective electron recoil energy spectrum has been extracted. In units of 106cm-2s-1, the total flux of active-flavor neutrinos from B8 decay in the Sun is found to be 4.94-0.21+0.21(stat)-0.34+0.38(syst) and the integral flux of electron neutrinos for an undistorted B8 spectrum is 1.68-0.06+0.06(stat)-0. 09+0.08(syst); the signal from (νx,e) elastic scattering is equivalent to an electron-neutrino flux of 2.35-0.22+0.22(stat)-0.15+0.15(syst). These results are consistent with those expected for neutrino oscillations with the so-called large mixing angle parameters and also with an undistorted spectrum. A search for matter-enhancement effects in the Earth through a possible day-night asymmetry in the charged-current integral rate is consistent with no asymmetry. Including results from other experiments, the best-fit values for two-neutrino mixing parameters are Δm2=(8.0-0.4+0.6)×10-5 eV2 and θ=33.9-2.2+2.4 degrees. © 2005 The American Physical Society