Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements
Abstract
Roughly 40% of the Earth’s total heat flow is powered by radioactive decays in the crust and mantle. Geo-neutrinos produced by these decays provide important clues about the origin, formation and thermal evolution of our planet, as well as the composition of its interior. Previous measurements of geo-neutrinos have all relied on the detection of inverse beta decay reactions, which are insensitive to the contribution from potassium and do not provide model-independent information about the spatial distribution of geo-neutrino sources within the Earth. Here in this paper we present a method for measuring previously unresolved components of Earth’s radiogenic heating using neutrino-electron elastic scattering and low-background, direction-sensitive tracking detectors.We calculate the exposures needed to probe various contributions to the total geo-neutrino flux, specifically those associated to potassium, the mantle and the core. The measurements proposed here chart a course for pioneering exploration of the veiled inner workings of the Earth.
- Authors:
-
- The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Bellaterra (Spain). Inst. of Fisica d'Altes Engergies; Royal Holloway Univ. of London, Egham Hill, Egham (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics; Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Lab. for Nuclear Science
- Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
- Royal Holloway Univ. of London, Egham Hill, Egham (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics; Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Lab. for Nuclear Science; High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba (Japan)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE; Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain (MINECO); National Science Foundation (NSF); Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1430052
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-05ER41360; ST/K002570/1; ECF-20130496; 665919; FPA2014-77347-C2-2; SEV-2012-0234
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Citation Formats
Leyton, Michael, Dye, Stephen, and Monroe, Jocelyn. Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1038/ncomms15989.
Leyton, Michael, Dye, Stephen, & Monroe, Jocelyn. Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15989
Leyton, Michael, Dye, Stephen, and Monroe, Jocelyn. Mon .
"Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15989. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1430052.
@article{osti_1430052,
title = {Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements},
author = {Leyton, Michael and Dye, Stephen and Monroe, Jocelyn},
abstractNote = {Roughly 40% of the Earth’s total heat flow is powered by radioactive decays in the crust and mantle. Geo-neutrinos produced by these decays provide important clues about the origin, formation and thermal evolution of our planet, as well as the composition of its interior. Previous measurements of geo-neutrinos have all relied on the detection of inverse beta decay reactions, which are insensitive to the contribution from potassium and do not provide model-independent information about the spatial distribution of geo-neutrino sources within the Earth. Here in this paper we present a method for measuring previously unresolved components of Earth’s radiogenic heating using neutrino-electron elastic scattering and low-background, direction-sensitive tracking detectors.We calculate the exposures needed to probe various contributions to the total geo-neutrino flux, specifically those associated to potassium, the mantle and the core. The measurements proposed here chart a course for pioneering exploration of the veiled inner workings of the Earth.},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms15989},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = ,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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