Solar neutrinos : from their production to their detection

Nuclear fusion reactions take place in the core of the Sun. On our neighborhood star, hydrogen is being fused into helium in the proton-proton chain reaction in which four protons are fused and two of them undergo a beta decay to become neutrons, releasing positrons and neutrinos. More than 40 years ago it was suggested to detect solar neutrinos to test the validity of solar models. The first measurement of the neutrino flux took place in the Homestake mine in South Dakota in 1968. The experiment detected only one third of the expected flux value, giving birth to the Solar Neutrino Problem. Since then different experiments were built in order to understand the origin of this discrepancy. Now we know that neutrinos undergo oscillation phenomena and change their nature while travelling from the core of the Sun to Earth. Thanks to neutrinos detection it is possible to infer and to prove how the Sun shines. This paper introduces solar neutrino physics from a historical point of view from its beginning to our days.