Solving the Solar Neutrino Problem with Neutrino Oscillations

Synopsis

Neutrinos are elusive because they only interact with matter through the weak force. From the 1960s to the late 1990s, experiments measuring the solar neutrino flux found values between half and two-thirds of those predicted. This was known as the Solar Neutrino Problem, which puzzled physicists for many decades. A proposed solution to the problem was confirmed by the discovery of neutrino oscillations. The Super-Kamiokande collaboration, led by Takaaki Kajita, discovered neutrino oscillations from atmospheric neutrinos, and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory collaboration, led by Arthur McDonald, discovered neutrino oscillations from solar neutrinos. I will discuss the results from these collaborations and describe how they found a solution to the Solar Neutrino Problem.