Bruno Pontecorvo's legacy: Radiochemical solar neutrino detection and neutrino oscillations.

Abstract

“The experimental observation of an inverse beta process produced by neutrinos is not out of the question with the modern experimental facilities.” “The radioactivity of the produced nucleus (in: νe +Z → (Z+1)+β−) may be looked for as proof of the inverse process. “The nucleus produced in inverse β transformations must be radioactive with a period of at least one day, because of the long time involved in the separation.” “The experiment with Chlorine, for example, would consist in irradiating with neutrinos a large volume of Chlorine or Carbon Tetrachloride, for a time of the order of one month, and extracting the radioactive Ar.” These statements [B. Pontecorvo 1946 (Chalk River Report PD-205)] contain already all the basic elements for the later successful story of the radiochemical solar neutrino detection method that earned Ray Davis the Physics Nobel Prize in 2002. They stem from 1946!