Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements

Journal article

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 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.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 8 table

Authors: Leyton, M; Dye, S; Monroe, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 15989-15989
• Publication date: 2017-07-10
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15989
• EISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English
• Keywords: Nuclear physics; Physics; Planet; Crust; Radioactive decay; Mantle (geology); Neutrino; Astrophysics; Radiogenic nuclide; Inner core; Geophysics