8Li electron spectrum versus 8B neutrino spectrum: implications for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Abstract

The sensitivity of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) to measure the shape of the recoil electron spectrum in the charged-current reaction of ${}^8$B solar neutrinos interacting with deuterium can be improved if the results of a ${}^8$Li beta-decay calibration experiment are included in the test. We calculate an improvement in sensitivity, under certain idealistic assumptions, of about a factor of 2, sufficient to resolve different neutrino-oscillation solutions to the solar-neutrino problem. We further examine the role of recoil and radiative corrections on both the ${}^8$B neutrino spectrum and the ${}^8$Li electron spectrum and conclude that the influence of these effects on the ratio of the two spectra as measured by SNO is very small.

Comments: revtex