Solar neutrino experiments and neutrino oscillators

This report will give the results of the Brookhaven solar neutrino experiment that is based upon the neutrino capture reaction, ³⁷Cl (ν,e⁻)³⁷Ar. The experiment was built in 1967 to test the theory of solar energy production, and it is well known that the neutrino capture rate in the detector is lower than that expected from theoretical models of the sun. The results will be compared to the current solar model calculations. One possible explanation of the low solar neutrino capture rate is that the neutrinos oscillate between two or more neutrino states, a topic of particular interest to this conference. We will discuss this question in relation to the ³⁷Cl experiment, and to other solar neutrino detectors that are capable of observing the lower energy neutrinos from the sun. A radiochemical solar neutrino detector located deep underground has a very low background and is capable of detecting the monoenergetic neutrinos from megacurie sources of radioisotopes that decay by electron capture. Experiments of this nature will be described that are capable of testing for neutrino oscillations with a δm² as low as 0.2 eV² if there is maximum mixing between the neutrino states.