Measurement of the response of a Ga solar neutrino experiment to neutrinos from a Ar37 source

An intense source of {sup 37}Ar was produced by the (n,{alpha}) reaction on {sup 40}Ca by irradiating 330 kg of calcium oxide in the fast neutron breeder reactor at Zarechny, Russia. The {sup 37}Ar was released from the solid target by dissolution in acid, collected from this solution, purified, sealed into a small source, and brought to the Baksan Neutrino Observatory where it was used to irradiate 13 tonnes of gallium metal in the Russian-American gallium solar neutrino experiment SAGE. Ten exposures of the gallium to the source, whose initial strength was 409{+-}2kCi, were carried out during the period April to September 2004. The {sup 71}Ge produced by the reaction {sup 71}Ga({nu}{sub e},e{sup -}){sup 71}Ge was extracted, purified, and counted. The measured production rate was 11.0{sub -0.9}{sup +1.0} (stat){+-}0.6 (syst) atoms of {sup 71}Ge/d, which is 0.79{sub -0.10}{sup +0.09} of the theoretically calculated production rate. When all neutrino source experiments with gallium are considered together, there is an indication the theoretical cross section has been overestimated.