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In this Letter we discuss the potential application of antineutrino monitoring to the Iranian heavy water reactor at Arak, the IR-40, as a nonproliferation measure. An above ground detector positioned right outside the IR-40 reactor building could meet IAEA verification goals for reactor plutonium inventories. While detectors with the needed spectral sensitivity have been demonstrated below ground, additional research and development is needed to demonstrate an above-ground detector with this same level of sensitivity. In addition to monitoring the reactor during operation, observing antineutrino emissions from long-lived fission products could also allow monitoring the reactor when it is shut down, provided very low detector backgrounds can be achieved. Antineutrino monitoring could also be used to distinguish different levels of fuel enrichment. Most importantly, these capabilities would not require a complete reactor operational history and could provide a means to reestablish continuity of knowledge in safeguards conclusions should this become necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical birefringence and light absorption measurements reveal four regimes for the thermotropic behavior of a nematogen liquid (7CB) upon sequential filling of parallel-aligned capillaries of 12 nm diameter in a monolithic, mesoporous silica membrane. No molecular reorientation is observed for the first adsorbed monolayer. In the film-condensed state (up to 1 nm thickness), a weak, continuous paranematic-to-nematic (P-N) transition is found, which is shifted by 10 K below the discontinuous bulk transition at 7jN = 305 K. The capillary-condensed state exhibits a more pronounced, albeit still continuous P-N reordering, located 4 K below TIN. This shift vanishes abruptly upon complete filling of the capillaries. It could originate in competing anchoring conditions at the free inner surfaces and at the pore walls or result from the 10-MPa tensile pressure release associated with the disappearance of concave menisci in the confined liquid upon complete filling. The study documents that the thermo-optical properties of nanoporous systems (or single nanocapillaries) can be tailored over a surprisingly wide range simply by variation of the filling fraction with liquid crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an x-ray reflectivity study of wetting at the free surface of the binary liquid metal alloy gallium-bismuth (Ga-Bi) in the region where the bulk phase separates into Bi-rich and Ga-rich liquid phases. The measurements reveal the evolution of the microscopic structure of the wetting films of the Bi-rich, low-surface-tension phase along several paths in the bulk phase diagram. The wetting of the Ga-rich bulk’s surface by a Bi-rich wetting film, the thickness of which is limited by gravity to only 50 Å, creates a Ga-rich/Bi-rich liquid/liquid interface close enough to the free surface to allow its detailed study by x rays. The structure of the interface is determined with Ångström resolution, which allows the application of a mean-field square gradient model extended by the inclusion of capillary waves as the dominant thermal fluctuations. The sole free parameter of the gradient model, the influence parameter \(\kappa\), that characterizes the influence of concentration gradients on the interfacial excess energy, is determined from our measurements. This, in turn, allows a calculation of the liquid/liquid interfacial tension, and a separation of the intrinsic and capillary wave contributions to the interfacial structure. In spite of expected deviations from MF behavior, based on the upper critical dimensionality (\(D_u\)=3) of the bulk, we find that the capillary wave excitations only marginally affect the short-range complete wetting behavior. A critical wetting transition that is sensitive to thermal fluctuations appears to be absent in this binary liquid-metal alloy., Engineering and Applied Sciences

We present x-ray reflectivity and diffuse scattering measurements from the liquid surface of pure potassium. They strongly suggest the existence of atomic layering at the free surface of a pure liquid metal with low surface tension. Prior to this study, layering was observed only for metals like Ga, In, and Hg, the surface tensions of which are five- to sevenfold higher than that of potassium, and hence closer to inducing an ideal “hard wall” boundary condition. The experimental result requires quantitative analysis of the contribution to the surface scattering from thermally excited capillary waves. Our measurements confirm the predicted form for the differential cross section for diffuse scattering, \(d \sigma/d\Omega \sim 1/q^{2-\eta}_{xy}\) where \(\eta\)=\(k_{B}Tq^{2}_{z}\)/2\(\pi \gamma\), over a range of \(\eta\) and q\(_{xy}\) that is larger than any previous measurement. The partial measure of the surface structure factor that we obtained agrees with computer simulations and theoretical predictions., Engineering and Applied Sciences

We perform a combined analysis of recent NEOS and Daya Bay data on the reactor antineutrino spectrum. This analysis includes approximately 1.5 million antineutrino events, which is the largest neutrino event sample analyzed to date. We use a double ratio which cancels flux model dependence and related uncertainties as well as the effects of the detector response model. We find at 3-4 standard deviation significance level, that plutonium-239 and plutonium-241 are disfavored as the single source for the so-called 5 MeV bump. This analysis method has general applicability and, in particular, with higher statistics data sets, will be able to shed significant light on the issue of the bump. With some caveats, this should also allow us to improve the sensitivity for sterile neutrino searches in NEOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major open questions in the neutrino sector is the issue of leptonic CP violation. Current global oscillation data show a mild preference for a large, potentially maximal value for the Dirac CP phase in the neutrino mixing matrix. In this Letter, we point out that new physics in the form of neutral-current-like nonstandard interactions with real couplings would likely yield a similar conclusion even if CP in the neutrino sector were conserved. Therefore, the claim for a discovery of leptonic CP violation will require a robust ability to test new physics scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify a new, flux-dependent correction to the antineutrino spectrum as produced in nuclear reactors. The abundance of certain nuclides, whose decay chains produce antineutrinos above the threshold for inverse beta decay, has a nonlinear dependence on the neutron flux, unlike the vast majority of antineutrino producing nuclides, whose decay rate is directly related to the fission rate. We have identified four of these so-called nonlinear nuclides and determined that they result in an antineutrino excess at low energies below 3.2 MeV, dependent on the reactor thermal neutron flux. We develop an analytic model for the size of the correction and compare it to the results of detailed reactor simulations for various real existing reactors, spanning 3 orders of magnitude in neutron flux. In a typical pressurized water reactor the resulting correction can reach ~0.9% of the low energy flux which is comparable in size to other, known low-energy corrections from spent nuclear fuel and the nonequilibrium correction. For naval reactors the nonlinear correction may reach the 5% level by the end of cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the nematic ordering of the rodlike liquid crystals 5CB and 6CB, embedded into parallel-aligned nanochannels in mesoporous silicon and silica membranes as a function of mean channel radius (4.7 ≤ R ≤ 8.3 nm), and, thus, geometrical confinement strength, by optical birefringence measurements in the infrared region. The orientational order inside the nanochannels results in an excess birefringence, which is proportional to the nematic order parameter. It evolves continuously on cooling with a precursor behavior, typical of a paranematic state at high temperatures. These observations are compared with the bulk behavior and analyzed within a phenomenological model. Such an approach indicates that the strength of the nematic ordering fields σ is beyond a critical threshold σc= 1/2 that separates discontinuous from continuous paranematic-to-nematic behavior. In agreement with the predictions of the phenomenological approach, a linear dependency of σ on the inverse channel radius is found and we can infer therefrom the critical channel radii, Rc, separating continuous from discontinuous paranematic-to-isotropic behavior, for 5CB (12.1 nm) and 6CB (14.0 nm). Our analysis suggests that the tangential anchoring at the channel walls is of similar strength in mesoporous silicon and mesoporous silica membranes. A comparison with the bulk phase behavior reveals that the nematic order in nanoconfinement is significantly affected by channel wall roughness, leading to a reduction of the effective nematic ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Condensation, melting, and freezing of nitrogen in a powder of mesoporous silica grains (SBA-15) has been studied by combined volumetric sorption isotherm and scanning calorimetry measurements. Within the mean-field model of Saam and Cole for vapor condensation in cylindrical pores, a liquid nitrogen sorption isotherm is well described by a bimodal pore radius distribution. It encompasses a narrow peak centered at 3.3 nm, typical of tubular mesopores, and a significantly broader peak characteristic of micropores, located at 1 nm. The material condensed in the micropores as well as the first two adsorbed monolayers in the mesopores do not exhibit any caloric anomaly. The solidification and melting transformation affects only the pore condensate beyond approximately the second monolayer of the mesopores. Here, interfacial melting leads to a single peak in the specific-heat measurements. Homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing along with a delayering transition for partial fillings of the mesopores result in a caloric freezing anomaly similarly complex and dependent on the thermal history to that observed for argon in SBA-15. The axial propagation of the crystallization in pore space is more effective in the case of nitrogen than previously observed for argon, which we attribute to differences in the crystalline textures of the pore solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a macroscopic droplet spreads, a thin precursor film of liquid moves ahead of the advancing liquid-solid-vapor contact line. Whereas this phenomenon has been explored extensively for planar solid substrates, its presence in nanostructured geometries has barely been studied so far, despite its importance for many natural and technological fluid transport processes. Here we use porous photonic crystals in silicon to resolve by light interferometry capillarity-driven spreading of liquid fronts in pores of few nanometers in radius. Upon spatiotemporal rescaling the fluid profiles collapse on master curves indicating that all imbibition fronts follow a square-root-of-time broadening dynamics. For the simple liquid (glycerol) a sharp front with a widening typical of Lucas-Washburn capillary-rise dynamics in a medium with pore-size distribution occurs. By contrast, for a polymer (PDMS) a precursor film moving ahead of the main menisci entirely alters the nature of the nanoscale transport, in agreement with predictions of computer simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a high-resolution dielectric study on a pyrene-based discotic liquid crystal (DLC) in the bulk state and confined in parallel tubular nanopores of monolithic silica and alumina membranes. The positive dielectric anisotropy of the DLC molecule at low frequencies (in the quasistatic case) allows us to explore the thermotropic collective orientational order. A face-on arrangement of the molecular discs on the pore walls and a corresponding radial arrangement of the molecules is found. In contrast to the bulk, the isotropic-to-columnar transition of the confined DLC is continuous, shifts with decreasing pore diameter to lower temperatures, and exhibits a pronounced hysteresis between cooling and heating. These findings corroborate conclusions from previous neutron and x-ray-scattering experiments as well as optical birefringence measurements. Our study also indicates that the relative simple dielectric technique presented here is a quite efficient method in order to study the thermotropic orientational order of DLC-based nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the optical birefringence of the nematic binary mixtures 6CB1-x7CBx (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) imbibed into parallel-aligned nanochannels of mesoporous alumina and silica membranes for channel radii of 3.4 ≤ R ≤21.0 nm. The results are compared with the bulk behavior and analyzed with a Landau-de-Gennes model. Depending on the channel radius the nematic ordering in the cylindrical nanochannels evolves either discontinuously (subcritical regime, nematic ordering field σ<1/2) or continuously (overcritical regime, σ>1/2), but in both cases with a characteristic paranematic precursor behavior. The strength of the ordering field, imposed by the channel walls, and the magnitude of quenched disorder varies linearly with the mole fraction x and scales inversely proportionally with R for channel radii larger than 4 nm. The critical pore radius, Rc, separating a continuous from a discontinuous paranematic-to-nematic evolution, varies linearly with x and differs negligibly between the silica and alumina membranes. We find no hints of preferred adsorption of one species at the channels walls. By contrast, a linear variation of the nematic-to-paranematic transition point TPN and of the nematic ordering field σ vs. x suggest that the binary mixtures of cyanobiphenyls 6CB and 7CB keep their homogeneous bulk stoichiometry also in nanoconfinement, at least for channel diameters larger than ~7 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally explore pressure-driven flow of water and n-hexane across nanoporous silica (Vycor glass monoliths with 7- or 10-nm pore diameters, respectively) as a function of temperature and surface functionalization (native and silanized glass surfaces). Hydraulic flow rates are measured by applying hydrostatic pressures via inert gases (argon and helium, pressurized up to 70 bar) on the upstream side in a capacitor-based membrane permeability setup. For the native, hydrophilic silica walls, the measured hydraulic permeabilities can be quantitatively accounted for by bulk fluidity provided we assume a sticking boundary layer, i.e., a negative velocity slip length of molecular dimensions. The thickness of this boundary layer is discussed with regard to previous capillarity-driven flow experiments (spontaneous imbibition) and with regard to velocity slippage at the pore walls resulting from dissolved gas. Water flow across the silanized, hydrophobic nanopores is blocked up to a hydrostatic pressure of at least 70 bar. The absence of a sticking boundary layer quantitatively accounts for an enhanced n-hexane permeability in the hydrophobic compared to the hydrophilic nanopores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any departure from graphene's flatness leads to the emergence of artificial gauge fields that act on the motion of the Dirac fermions through an associated pseudomagnetic field. Here, we demonstrate the tunability of strong gauge fields in nonlocal experiments using a large planar graphene sheet that conforms to the deformation of a piezoelectric layer by a surface acoustic wave. The acoustic wave induces a longitudinal and a giant synthetic Hall voltage in the absence of external magnetic fields. The superposition of a synthetic Hall potential and a conventional Hall voltage can annihilate the sample's transverse potential at large external magnetic fields. Surface acoustic waves thus provide a promising and facile avenue for the exploitation of gauge fields in large planar graphene systems.

The recent agreement to transfer nuclear submarine reactors and technology from two nuclear-weapon states to a non-nuclear-weapon state (AUKUS deal) highlights an unsolved problem in international safeguards: how to safeguard naval reactor fuel while it is on board an operational nuclear submarine. Proposals to extend existing safeguards technologies and practices are complicated by the need for civilian international inspectors to gain access to the interior of the submarine and the reactor compartment, which raises national security concerns. In this Letter we show that implementing safeguards on submarine propulsion reactors using a low-energy antineutrino reactor-off method, between submarine patrols, can by-pass the need for onboard access all together. We find that, using inverse beta decay, detectors can achieve a timely and high level of assurance that a submarine's nuclear core has not been diverted (detector mass of around 100 kg) nor its enrichment level changed (detector mass of around 10 tons).

Disklike molecules with aromatic cores spontaneously stack up in linear columns with high, one-dimensional charge carrier mobilities along the columnar axes, making them prominent model systems for functional, self-organized matter. We show by high-resolution optical birefringence and synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction that confining a thermotropic discotic liquid crystal in cylindrical nanopores induces a quantized formation of annular layers consisting of concentric circular bent columns, unknown in the bulk state. Starting from the walls this ring self-assembly propagates layer by layer towards the pore center in the supercooled domain of the bulk isotropic-columnar transition and thus allows one to switch on and off reversibly single, nanosized rings through small temperature variations. By establishing a Gibbs free energy phase diagram we trace the phase transition quantization to the discreteness of the layers' excess bend deformation energies in comparison to the thermal energy, even for this near room-temperature system. Monte Carlo simulations yielding spatially resolved nematic order parameters, density maps, and bond-orientational order parameters corroborate the universality and robustness of the confinement-induced columnar ring formation as well as its quantized nature.

We explore the optical birefringence of the nematic binary mixtures 6CB&#95;{1-x}7CB&#95;{x} (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) embedded into parallel-aligned nanochannels of mesoporous alumina and silica membranes for channel radii of 3.4 ≤ R ≤ 21.0 nm. The results are compared with the bulk behavior and analyzed with a Landau-de Gennes model. Depending on the channel radius the nematic ordering in the cylindrical nanochannels evolves either discontinuously (subcritical regime, nematic ordering field σ<1/2) or continuously (overcritical regime, σ>1/2), but in both cases with a characteristic paranematic precursor behavior. The strength of the ordering field, imposed by the channel walls, and the magnitude of quenched disorder varies linearly with the mole fraction x and scales inversely proportionally with R for channel radii larger than 4 nm. The critical pore radius, R&#95;{c}, separating a continuous from a discontinuous paranematic-to-nematic evolution varies linearly with x and differs negligibly between the silica and alumina membranes. We find no hints of preferred adsorption of one species at the channels walls. By contrast, a linear variation of the nematic-to-paranematic transition point T&#95;{PN} and of the nematic ordering field σ versus x suggests that the binary mixtures of cyanobiphenyls 6CB and 7CB keep their homogeneous bulk stoichiometry also in nanoconfinement, at least for channel diameters larger than ∼7 nm.

Multilayer sorption isotherms of 1-propanol on graphite have been measured by means of high-resolution ellipsometry within the liquid regime of the adsorbed film for temperatures ranging from 180 to 260 K. In the first three monolayers the molecules are oriented parallel to the substrate and the growth is roughly consistent with the Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) model that is obeyed in van der Waals systems on strong substrates. The condensation of the fourth and higher layers is delayed with respect to the FHH model. The fourth layer is actually a bilayer. Furthermore, there is indication of a wetting transition. The results are interpreted in terms of hydrogen-bridge bonding within and between the layers.

We study the smectic director structure of the rodlike liquid crystal 4-n-dodecyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (12CB) confined in cylindrical cavities of 200 nm diameter in porous alumina templates by means of combined broadband dielectric spectroscopy, optical birefringence, and neutron scattering measurements. We show that the collective molecular orientation differs between entering the smectic A phase upon cooling from the isotropic state and entering the same phase upon heating while melting the confined crystal. We discuss this collective molecular realignment in terms of a competition between weak planar anchoring at the p-Al2O3/12CB interface and a preferred texture typical of the crystallization of rodlike molecules in nanochannels (Bridgman growth).

We report combined optical birefringence and neutron scattering measurements on the liquid crystal 12CB nanoconfined in mesoporous silicon layers. This liquid crystal exhibits strong nematic-smectic coupling responsible for a discontinuous isotropic-to-smectic phase transition in the bulk state. Confined in porous silicon, 12CB is subjected to strong anisotropic quenched disorder: a short-ranged smectic state evolves out of a paranematic phase. This transformation appears continuous, losing its bulk first-order character. This contrasts with previously reported observations on liquid crystals under isotropic quenched disorder. In the low temperature phase, both orientational and translational order parameters obey the same power law.

Capillary filling dynamics of liquid n-tetracosane (n-C24H50) in a network of cylindrical pores with 7 and 10 nm mean diameter in monolithic silica glass (Vycor) exhibit an abrupt temperature-slope change at Ts = 54 degrees C, approximately 4 degrees C above bulk and approximately 16 degrees C, 8 degrees C, respectively, above pore freezing. It can be traced to a sudden inversion of the surface tension's T slope, and thus to a decrease in surface entropy at the advancing pore menisci, characteristic of the formation of a single solid monolayer of rectified molecules, known as surface freezing from macroscopic, quiescent tetracosane melts. The imbibition speeds, that are the squared prefactors of the observed square-root-of-time Lucas-Washburn invasion kinetics, indicate a conserved bulk fluidity and capillarity of the nanopore-confined liquid, if we assume a flat lying, sticky hydrocarbon backbone monolayer at the silica walls.

We report on the capillary rise of water in three-dimensional networks of hydrophilic silica pores with 3.5 nm and 5 nm mean radii, respectively (porous Vycor monoliths). We find classical square root of time Lucas-Washburn laws for the imbibition dynamics over the entire capillary rise times of up to 16 h investigated. Provided we assume two preadsorbed strongly bound layers of water molecules resting at the silica walls, which corresponds to a negative velocity slip length of -0.5 nm for water flow in silica nanopores, we can describe the filling process by a retained fluidity and capillarity of water in the pore center. This anticipated partitioning in two dynamic components reflects the structural-thermodynamic partitioning in strongly silica bound water layers and capillary condensed water in the pore center which is documented by sorption isotherm measurements.

We present an x-ray diffraction study on n -hexane in tubular silicon channels of approximately 10 nm diameter both as a function of the filling fraction f of the channels and as a function of temperature. Upon cooling, confined n -hexane crystallizes in a triclinic phase typical of the bulk crystalline state. However, the anisotropic spatial confinement leads to a preferred orientation of the confined crystallites, where the 001 crystallographic direction coincides with the long axis of the channels. The magnitude of this preferred orientation increases with the filling fraction, which corroborates the assumption of a Bridgman-type crystallization process being responsible for the peculiar crystalline texture. This growth process predicts for a channel-like confinement an alignment of the fastest crystallization direction parallel to the long channel axis. It is expected to be increasingly effective with the length of solidifying liquid parcels and thus with increasing f . In fact, the fastest solidification front is expected to sweep over the full silicon nanochannel for f=1 , in agreement with our observation of a practically perfect texture for entirely filled nanochannels.

The optical birefringence of rodlike nematogens (7CB, 8CB), imbibed in parallel silica channels with 10 nm diameter and 300 microm length, is measured and compared to the thermotropic bulk behavior. The orientational order of the confined liquid crystals, quantified by the uniaxial nematic ordering parameter, evolves continuously between paranematic and nematic states, in contrast to the discontinuous isotropic-to-nematic bulk phase transitions. A Landau-de Gennes model reveals that the strength of the orientational ordering fields, imposed by the silica walls, is beyond a critical threshold, that separates discontinuous from continuous paranematic-to-nematic behavior. Quenched disorder effects, attributable to wall irregularities, leave the transition temperatures affected only marginally, despite the strong ordering fields in the channels.

Freezing and melting of Ar condensed in a granular packing of template-grown arrays of linear mesopores (SBA-15, mean pore diameter 8 nm) has been studied by specific heat measurements C as a function of fractional filling of the pores. While interfacial melting leads to a single melting peak in C, homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing along with a delayering transition for partial fillings of the pores result in a complex freezing mechanism explainable only by a consideration of regular adsorption sites (in the cylindrical mesopores) and irregular adsorption sites (in niches of the rough external surfaces of the grains and at points of mutual contact of the powder grains). The tensile pressure release upon reaching bulk-liquid-vapor coexistence quantitatively accounts for an upward shift of the melting and freezing temperature observed while overfilling the mesopores.

The linear 1-alcohols n-C(16)H(33)OH, n-C(17)H(35)OH, n-C(19)H(39)OH have been imbibed and solidified in lined up, tubular mesopores of silicon with 10 and 15 nm mean diameters, respectively. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal a set of six discrete orientation states ("domains") characterized by a perpendicular alignment of the molecules with respect to the long axis of the pores and by a fourfold symmetry about this direction, which coincides with the crystalline symmetry of the Si host. A Bragg peak series characteristic of the formation of bilayers indicates a lamellar structure of the spatially confined alcohol crystals in 15 nm pores. By contrast, no layering reflections could be detected for 10 nm pores. The growth mechanism responsible for the peculiar orientation states is attributed to a nanoscale version of the Bridgman technique of single-crystal growth, where the dominant growth direction is aligned parallel to the long pore axes. Our observations are analogous to the growth phenomenology encountered for medium length n -alkanes confined in mesoporous silicon [A. Henschel, T. Hofmann, P. Huber, and K. Knorr, Phys. Rev. E 75, 021607 (2007)] and may further elucidate why porous silicon matrices act as an effective nucleation-inducing material for protein solution crystallization.

Measurements on helium and argon gas flow through an array of parallel, linear channels of 12 nm diameter and 200 microm length in a single crystalline silicon membrane reveal a Knudsen diffusion type transport from 10(2) to 10(7) in Knudsen number Kn. The classic scaling prediction for the transport diffusion coefficient on temperature and mass of diffusing species, D(He) is proportional to square root T, is confirmed over a T range from 40 K to 300 K for He and for the ratio of D(He)/D(Ar) is proportional to square root (m(Ar)/m(He)). Deviations of the channels from a cylindrical form, resolved with electron microscopy down to subnanometer scales, quantitatively account for a reduced diffusivity as compared to Knudsen diffusion in ideal tubular channels. The membrane permeation experiments are described over 10 orders of magnitude in Kn, encompassing the transition flow regime, by the unified flow model of Beskok and Karniadakis.

We show that solar axion conversion to photons in the Earth's magnetosphere can produce an x-ray flux, with average energy omega approximately 4 keV, which is measurable on the dark side of the Earth. The smallness of the Earth's magnetic field is compensated by a large magnetized volume. For axion masses m(a) less, similar10(-4) eV, a low-Earth-orbit x-ray detector with an effective area of 10(4) cm(2), pointed at the solar core, can probe the photon-axion coupling down to 10(-11) GeV-1, in 1 yr. Thus, the sensitivity of this new approach will be an order of magnitude beyond current laboratory limits.

We propose that the solar neutrino deficit may be due to oscillations of mass-varying neutrinos (MaVaNs). This scenario elucidates solar neutrino data beautifully while remaining comfortably compatible with atmospheric neutrino and K2K data and with reactor antineutrino data at short and long baselines (from CHOOZ and KamLAND). We find that the survival probability of solar MaVaNs is independent of how the suppression of neutrino mass caused by the acceleron-matter couplings varies with density. Measurements of MeV and lower energy solar neutrinos will provide a rigorous test of the idea.

We study type II supernova signatures of neutrino mass generation via symmetry breaking at a scale in the range from keV to MeV. The scalar responsible for symmetry breaking is thermalized in the supernova core and restores the symmetry. The neutrinos from scalar decays have about half the average energy of thermal neutrinos. The Bose-Einstein distribution of the scalars can be established with a megaton water Cerenkov detector. The discovery of the bimodal neutrino flux is, however, well within the reach of the Super-Kamiokande detector, without a detailed knowledge of the supernova parameters.