F. Ortica

First evidence of pep solar neutrinos by direct detection in Borexino.

G. Bellini, J. Benziger, D. Bick, S. Bonetti, G. Bonfini, D. Bravo, M. Buizza Avanzini, B. Caccianiga, L. Cadonati, F. Calaprice, C. Carraro, P. Cavalcante, A. Chavarria, D. D’Angelo, S. Davini, A. Derbin, A. Etenko, K. Fomenko, 4 D. Franco, C. Galbiati, S. Gazzana, C. Ghiano, M. Giammarchi, M. Goeger-Neff, A. Goretti, L. Grandi, E. Guardincerri, S. Hardy, Aldo Ianni, Andrea Ianni, D. Korablev, G. Korga, Y. Koshio, D. Kryn, M. Laubenstein, T. Lewke, E. Litvinovich, B. Loer, F. Lombardi, P. Lombardi, L. Ludhova, I. Machulin, S. Manecki, W. Maneschg, G. Manuzio, Q. Meindl, E. Meroni, L. Miramonti, M. Misiaszek, 4 D. Montanari, 7 P. Mosteiro, V. Muratova, L. Oberauer, M. Obolensky, F. Ortica, K. Otis, M. Pallavicini, L. Papp, L. Perasso, S. Perasso, A. Pocar, J. Quirk, R.S. Raghavan, G. Ranucci, A. Razeto, A. Re, A. Romani, A. Sabelnikov, R. Saldanha, C. Salvo, S. Schönert, H. Simgen, M. Skorokhvatov, O. Smirnov, A. Sotnikov, S. Sukhotin, Y. Suvorov, R. Tartaglia, G. Testera, D. Vignaud, R.B. Vogelaar, F. von Feilitzsch, J. Winter, M. Wojcik, A. Wright, M. Wurm, J. Xu, O. Zaimidoroga, S. Zavatarelli, and G. Zuzel

Measurement of the solar 8B neutrino rate with a liquid scintillator target and 3 MeV energy threshold in the Borexino detector

G. Bellini, J. Benziger, S. Bonetti, M. Buizza Avanzini, B. Caccianiga, L. Cadonati, F. Calaprice, C. Carraro, A. Chavarria, A. Chepurnov, F. Dalnoki-Veress, D. D’Angelo, S. Davini, H. de Kerret, A. Derbin, A. Etenko, K. Fomenko, D. Franco, C. Galbiati, S. Gazzana, C. Ghiano, M. Giammarchi, M. Goeger-Neff, A. Goretti, E. Guardincerri, S. Hardy, Aldo Ianni, Andrea Ianni, M. Joyce, G. Korga, D. Kryn, M. Laubenstein, M. Leung, T. Lewke, E. Litvinovich, B. Loer, P. Lombardi, L. Ludhova, I. Machulin, S. Manecki, W. Maneschg, G. Manuzio, Q. Meindl, E. Meroni, L. Miramonti, M. Misiaszek, 11 D. Montanari, V. Muratova, L. Oberauer, M. Obolensky, F. Ortica, M. Pallavicini, L. Papp, L. Perasso, S. Perasso, A. Pocar, R.S. Raghavan, G. Ranucci, A. Razeto, A. Re, P. Risso, A. Romani, D. Rountree, A. Sabelnikov, R. Saldanha, C. Salvo, S. Schönert, H. Simgen, M. Skorokhvatov, O. Smirnov, A. Sotnikov, S. Sukhotin, Y. Suvorov, 9 R. Tartaglia, G. Testera, D. Vignaud, R.B. Vogelaar, F. von Feilitzsch, J. Winter, M. Wojcik, A. Wright, M. Wurm, J. Xu, O. Zaimidoroga, S. Zavatarelli, and G. Zuzel

Observation of Geo{Neutrinos

Geo–neutrinos, electron anti–neutrinos produced in β decays of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in the Earth, are a unique direct probe of our planet’s interior. We report the first observation at more than 3σ C.L. of geo–neutrinos, performed with the Borexino detector at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. Anti–neutrinos are detected through the neutron inverse β decay reaction. With a 252.6 ton·yr fiducial exposure after all selection cuts, we detected 9.9 −3.4( +14.6 −8.2 ) geo–neutrino events, with errors corresponding to a 68.3% (99.73%) C.L. From the lnL profile, the statistical significance of the Borexino geo-neutrino observation corresponds to a 99.997% C.L. Our measurement of the geo–neutrinos rate is 3.9 −1.3( +5.8 −3.2) events/(100 ton·yr). The observed prompt positron spectrum above 2.6 MeV is compatible with that expected from european nuclear reactors (mean base line of approximately 1000 km). Our measurement of reactor anti–neutrinos excludes the non-oscillation hypothesis at 99.60% C.L. This measurement rejects the hypothesis of an active geo-reactor in the Earth’s core with a power above 3 TW at 95% C.L.

Static and dynamic interaction of a naturally occurring photochromic molecule with bovine serum albumin studied by UV-visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy.

In this work, the interaction of a naturally occurring chromene, flindersine (FL), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been investigated by UV-vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, time-resolved lifetime measurements, steady state photochemistry, and semiempirical calculations. The interplay of FL with tryptophan (Trp) has been studied in parallel. The interaction of FL with BSA causes fluorescence quenching of BSA through both static and dynamic quenching mechanisms. FL binds BSA with a stoichiometry that varies from 1.09:1 to 0.80:1 as the temperature increases from 293 to 308 K. The reaction is characterized by negative enthalpy (deltaH degrees = -193 kJ mol(-1)) and negative entropy (deltaS degrees = -550 J K(-1) mol(-1)), indicating that the predominant forces in the FL-BSA complex are hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces. The binding distance between the protein and the photochrome was calculated as 2.5 nm, according to the Foerster theory on resonance energy transfer. The effect of FL concentration on the BSA fluorescence was analyzed according to the maximum entropy method. FL also quenches the emission of Trp with a mechanism that, based on the experimental evidence, excludes both static and dynamic effects. An alternative relaxation pathway, consisting in an electron transfer from a prefluorescent state of Trp to FL, is put forward. The photobehavior of FL is affected by the interplay with BSA but not with Trp. When FL is complexed with BSA, it becomes a more fluorescent and more reactive species. Semiempirical calculations of the lowest optically active electronic transitions of hypothetical FL photoproducts suggest the most likely structure for the photoproduct.

Measurement of geo-neutrinos from 1353 days of Borexino

Abstract We present a measurement of the geo-neutrino signal obtained from 1353 days of data with the Borexino detector at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. With a fiducial exposure of ( 3.69 ± 0.16 ) × 10 31 proton × year after all selection cuts and background subtraction, we detected ( 14.3 ± 4.4 ) geo-neutrino events assuming a fixed chondritic mass Th/U ratio of 3.9. This corresponds to a geo-neutrino signal S geo = ( 38.8 ± 12.0 ) TNU with just a 6 × 10 − 6 probability for a null geo-neutrino measurement. With U and Th left as free parameters in the fit, the relative signals are S Th = ( 10.6 ± 12.7 ) TNU and S U = ( 26.5 ± 19.5 ) TNU . Borexino data alone are compatible with a mantle geo-neutrino signal of ( 15.4 ± 12.3 ) TNU , while a combined analysis with the KamLAND data allows to extract a mantle signal of ( 14.1 ± 8.1 ) TNU . Our measurement of 31.2 − 6.1 + 7.0 reactor anti-neutrino events is in agreement with expectations in the presence of neutrino oscillations.

SOX: Short distance neutrino Oscillations with BoreXino

A bstractThe very low radioactive background of the Borexino detector, its large size, and the well proved capability to detect both low energy electron neutrinos and antineutrinos make an ideal case for the study of short distance neutrino oscillations with artificial sources at Gran Sasso.This paper describes the possible layouts of 51Cr (νe) and 144Ce-144Pr

Cosmic-muon flux and annual modulation in Borexino at 3800 m water-equivalent depth

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Cosmogenic Backgrounds in Borexino at 3800 m water-equivalent depth

source experiments in Borexino and shows the expected sensitivity to eV mass sterile neutrinos for three possible different phases of the experiment. Expected results on neutrino magnetic moment, electroweak mixing angle, and couplings to axial and vector currents are shown too.