Supersonic turbulent convection, inhomogeneities of chemical composition and the solar neutrino problem

A new theory of the evolution of the Sun is presented to account for the present low flux of neutrinos. It is suggested that resistive segregation of grain material during the early stages of star formation, followed by a turbulent phase of planetary formation, may lead to an initial chemically inhomogeneous Sun consisting of a small metal-rich core of mass 0.03 M(Sun) surrounded by a homogeneous, but slightly metal-deficient, radiatively stable envelope. Because of its high Z we propose that the core was highly convectively unstable and a large supersonic turbulent stress was created by the motions of long and needle-like overshooting convective elements. This stress greatly expands the volume of the core causing it to become hotter at the centre but cooler at its edge. The net result is a star of quite low luminosity which consumes its central hydrogen very rapidly, via the CNO cycle, with hardly any burning taking place in the surrounding envelope. After a time tsub(0), comparable with but less than 4.7 x 109 yr, we propose that the core burns itself out. The whole star then undergoes a massive structural change with the luminosity suddenly increasing from about 1/2 L(Sun) to close to L(Sun). The net result at solar age is the configuration which has a small burnt-out core, a barely consumed hydrogen-rich envelope, and a greatly reduced neutrino flux of order 1 SNU. Setting tsub(0) = 4.13 x 109 yr, our theory provided a natural explanation of the disappearance of the Great Infra-Cambrian Ice Age and mysterious onset of the Gambrian Period, some 570 m. yr ago. It may also, possibly, account for the 'turn-off' gaps in the colour-magnitude diagram of old galactic clusters. (orig.)