Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements
Leyton, Michael (Institut de Física d'Altes Energies)
Dye, Stephen (University of Hawaii. Department of Physics and Astronomy)
Monroe, Jocelyn (Royal Holloway University of London. Department of Physics)

Fecha:	2017
Resumen:	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.
Ayudas:	European Commission 665919 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad FPA2014-77347-C2-2 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SEV-2012-0234 European Commission 279980
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Publicado en:	Nature communications, Vol. 8 (July 2017) , art. 15989, ISSN 2041-1723

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15989
PMID: 28691700

11 p, 1.1 MB

El registro aparece en las colecciones:
Documentos de investigación > Documentos de los grupos de investigación de la UAB > Centros y grupos de investigación (producción científica) > Ciencias > Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE)
Artículos > Artículos de investigación
Artículos > Artículos publicados