Measurement of the pep and CNO solar neutrino interaction rates in Borexino-I

The Borexino detector at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso is a low-background liquid scintillator calorimeter designed to measure the flux of low-energy solar neutrinos. Thanks to the low background rate, Borexino-I, using data taken between January 2008 and May 2010, performed the first direct detection of the pep solar neutrinos together with the strongest limit to date on the CNO solar neutrino flux. The aim of this article is to provide a review of the theoretical motivations and of the analysis procedures that led to these results.