Low Energy solar neutrino detection plays a fundamental role in understanding both solar astrophysics and particle physics. After introducing the open questions on both fields, we review here the major results of the last two years and expectations f
or the near future from Borexino, Super-Kamiokande, SNO and KamLAND experiments as well as from upcoming (SNO+) and planned (LENA) experiments. Scintillator neutrino detectors are also powerful antineutrino detectors such as those emitted by the Earth crust and mantle. First measurements of geo-neutrinos have occurred and can bring fundamental contribution in understanding the geophysics of the planet.
Borexino is an organic liquid scintillator detector located in the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory (Italy). It is devoted mainly to the real time spectroscopy of low energy solar neutrinos via the elastic scattering on electrons in the tar
get mass. The data taking campaign started in 2007 and led to key measurements of 7}Be and 8B solar neutrinos as well as antineutrinos from the earth (geo-neutrinos) and from nuclear power reactors. Borexino is also a powerful tool for the study of cosmic muons that penetrate the Gran Sasso rock coverage and thereby induced signals such as neutrons and radioactive isotopes which are today of critical importance for upcoming dark matter and neutrino physics experiments. Having reached 4y of continuous data taking we analyze here the muon signal and its possible modulation. The muon flux is measured to be (3.41+-0.01)E-4/m2/s. A modulation of this signal with a yearly period is observed with an amplitude of (1.29+-0.07)% and a phase of (179+-6) d, corresponding to June 28th. Muon rate fluctuations are compared to fluctuations in the atmospheric temperature on a daily base, exploiting the most complete atmospheric data and models available. The distributions are shown to be positively correlated and the effective temperature coefficient is measured to be alpha_T = 0.93 +- 0.04. This result is in good agreement with the expectations of the kaon-inclusive model at the laboratory site and represents an improvement over previous measurements performed at the same depth.
A next-generation liquid-scintillator detector will be able to perform high-statistics measurements of the solar neutrino flux. In LENA, solar Be-7 neutrinos are expected to cause 1.7x10^4 electron recoil events per day in a fiducial volume of 35 kil
otons. Based on this signal, a search for periodic modulations on sub-percent level can be conducted, surpassing the sensitivity of current detectors by at least a factor of 20. The range of accessible periods reaches from several minutes, corresponding to modulations induced by helioseismic g-modes, to tens of years, allowing to study long-term changes in solar fusion rates.
