Nuclear physics for geo-neutrino studies

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.81.034602· OSTI ID:21386686

Fiorentini, Gianni ^[1]; Ianni, Aldo; Korga, George; Suvorov, Yury ^[2]; Lissia, Marcello ^[3]; Mantovani, Fabio ^[1]; Miramonti, Lino ^[4]; Oberauer, Lothar ^[5]; Obolensky, Michel ^[6]; Smirnov, Oleg ^[7]

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1. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Ferrara, I-44100 Ferrara (Italy)
2. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, I-67010 Assergi (Italy)
3. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Cagliari, I-09042 Monserrato (Italy)
4. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano (Italy)
5. Physik Department, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, D-85747 Garching (Germany)
6. Laboratoire AstroParticule et Cosmologie, F-75231 Paris CEDEX 13 (France)
7. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, RU-141980 Dubna (Russian Federation)

Geo-neutrino studies are based on theoretical estimates of geo-neutrino spectra. We propose a method for a direct measurement of the energy distribution of antineutrinos from decays of long-lived radioactive isotopes. We present preliminary results for the geo-neutrinos from {sup 214}Bi decay, a process that accounts for about one-half of the total geo-neutrino signal. The feeding probability of the lowest state of {sup 214}Bi--the most important for geo-neutrino signal--is found to be p{sub 0}=0.177+-0.004 (stat){sub -0.001}{sup +0.003} (sys), under the hypothesis of universal neutrino spectrum shape (UNSS). This value is consistent with the (indirect) estimate of the table of isotopes. We show that achievable larger statistics and reduction of systematics should allow for the testing of possible distortions of the neutrino spectrum from that predicted using the UNSS hypothesis. Implications on the geo-neutrino signal are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21386686
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.81.034602; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANTINEUTRINOS
BISMUTH 214
DECAY
ENERGY SPECTRA
HYPOTHESIS
NEUTRINOS
NUCLEAR DECAY
NUCLEAR PHYSICS
SIMULATION
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ANTILEPTONS
ANTIMATTER
ANTIPARTICLES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BISMUTH ISOTOPES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATTER
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PHYSICS
RADIOISOTOPES
SPECTRA