Observation of geo-neutrinos

Bellini, G.; Benziger, J.; Bonetti, S.; Avanzini, M. Buizza; Caccianiga, B.; Cadonati, L.; Calaprice, F.; Carraro, C.; Chavarría, Á.; Dalnoki‐Veress, F.; D’Angelo, D.; Davini, S.; Kerret, H. de; Derbin, A.; Etenko, A.; Fiorentini, G.; Fomenko, K.; Franco, D.; Galbiati, C.; Gazzana, S.; Ghiano, C.; Giammarchi, M.; Goeger-Neff, M.; Goretti, A.; Guardincerri, E.; Hardy, S.; Ianni, Aldo; Ianni, Andrea; Joyce, M.; Kobychev, V.; Koshio, Y.; Korga, G.; Kryn, D.; Laubenstein, M.; Leung, M.; Lewke, T.; Litvinovich, E.; Loer, B.; Lombardi, P.; Ludhová, L.; Machulin, I.; Manecki, S.; Maneschg, W.; Manuzio, G.; Meindl, Q.; Meroni, E.; Miramonti, L.; Misiaszek, M.; Montanari, D.; Muratova, V.; Oberauer, L.; Obolensky, M.; Ortica, F.; Pallavicini, M.; Papp, L.; Perasso, L.; Perasso, S.; Pocar, A.; Raghavan, R. S.; Ranucci, G.; Razeto, A.; Re, A.; Ricci, B.; Risso, P.; Romani, A.; Rountree, S. D.; Sabelnikov, A.; Saldanha, R.; Salvo, C.; Schönert, S.; Simgen, H.; Skorokhvatov, M.; Smirnov, O.; Sotnikov, A.; Sukhotin, S.; Suvorov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Testera, G.; Vignaud, D.; Vogelaar, R. B.; Feilitzsch, F. von; Winter, J.; Wójcik, Marcin; Wright, A.; Wurm, M.; Xu, J.; Zaimidoroga, O.; Zavatarelli, S.; Zuzel, G.

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.03.051

Cited by 234 publications

(268 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Borexino measured 15.4 events/(100 t·yr) [240], which scales to about 1500 events per year in LENA, considering a reduced muon flux by a factor of 5. This background can be reduced to about 1 event per year in LENA, if a 2 s cut after every detected muon is applied.…”

Section: Backgroundsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The expected reactorν e flux was calculated based on the same assumptions as described in [240]. The neutrino oscillations parameters (∆m 2 12 = 7.65 ·10 −5 eV 2 ; sin 2 θ 12 = 0.304) from Ref.…”

Section: Reactor Neutrino Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…KamLAND and Borexino have observed geo-neutrinos with similar precision [203,[239][240][241] . Borexino has significantly greater radiopurity and lesser reactor flux than KamLAND, allowing Borexino to make the measurement in 5% of the exposure of KamLAND.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The next-generation liquid-scintillator neutrino observatory LENA

Wurm

Beacom

Bezrukov

et al. 2012

Astroparticle Physics

212

200

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2As part of the European LAGUNA design study on a next-generation neutrino detector, we propose the liquid-scintillator detector LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) as a multipurpose neutrino observatory. The outstanding successes of the Borexino and KamLAND experiments demonstrate the large potential of liquid-scintillator detectors in low-energy neutrino physics. Low energy threshold, good energy resolution and efficient background discrimination are inherent to the liquidscintillator technique. A target mass of 50 kt will offer a substantial increase in detection sensitivity.At low energies, the variety of detection channels available in liquid scintillator will allow for an energy-and flavor-resolved analysis of the neutrino burst emitted by a galactic Supernova. Due to target mass and background conditions, LENA will also be sensitive to the faint signal of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background. Solar metallicity, time-variation in the solar neutrino flux and deviations from MSW-LMA survival probabilities can be investigated based on unprecedented statistics. Low background conditions allow to search for dark matter by observing rare annihilation neutrinos. The large number of events expected for geoneutrinos will give valuable information on the abundances of Uranium and Thorium and their relative ratio in the Earth's crust and mantle. Reactor neutrinos enable a high-precision measurement of solar mixing parameters. A strong radioactive or pion decay-at-rest neutrino source can be placed close to the detector to investigate neutrino oscillations for short distances and sub-MeV to MeV energies.At high energies, LENA will provide a new lifetime limit for the SUSY-favored proton decay mode into kaon and antineutrino, surpassing current experimental limits by about one order of magnitude. Recent studies have demonstrated that a reconstruction of momentum and energy of GeV particles is well feasible in liquid scintillator. Monte Carlo studies on the reconstruction of the complex event topologies found for neutrino interactions at multi-GeV energies have shown promising results. If this is confirmed, LENA might serve as far detector in a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment currently investigated in LAGUNA-LBNO.3

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Section: Backgroundsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Reactor Neutrino Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The next-generation liquid-scintillator neutrino observatory LENA

Wurm

Beacom

Bezrukov

et al. 2012

Astroparticle Physics

212

200

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“…The number of PMTs for the present data set has been declining with time, from 1931 to 1525 (average 1730), with small run by run fluctuations. As reported in [3] the event energy is a calibrated non-linear function of the number of detected p.e. We perform the analysis directly in number of p.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

Spectroscopy of geoneutrinos from 2056 days of Borexino data

Agostini¹,

Appel²,

Bellini³

et al. 2015

Phys. Rev. D

Self Cite

104

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We report an improved geoneutrino measurement with Borexino from 2056 days of data taking. The present exposure is (5.5±0.3)×1031 proton×yr. Assuming a chondritic Th/U mass ratio of 3.9, we obtain 23.7+6.5−5.7(stat)+0.9−0.6(sys) geoneutrino events. The null observation of geoneutrinos with Borexino alone has a probability of 3.6×10−9 (5.9σ). A geoneutrino signal from the mantle is obtained at 98% C.L. The radiogenic heat production for U and Th from the present best-fit result is restricted to the range 23–36 TW, taking into account the uncertainty on the distribution of heat producing elements inside the Earth

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“…The statistical significance improved as more data were obtained 2 . Recently, the Borexino Collaboration at Gran Sasso reported an excess of events they attribute to geoneutrinos 3 . While Borexino convincingly confirms the KamLAND excess, neither result is precise enough to provide much guidance for geophysical models.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Partial radiogenic heat model for Earth revealed by geoneutrino measurements

Gando¹,

Gando²,

Ichimura³

et al. 2011

Nature Geosci

198

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The Earth has cooled since its formation, yet the decay of radiogenic isotopes, and in particular uranium, thorium and potassium, in the planet's interior provides a continuing heat source. The current total heat flux from the Earth to space is 44.2 ± 1.0 TW, but the relative contributions from residual primordial heat and radiogenic decay remain uncertain. However, radiogenic decay can be estimated from the flux of geoneutrinos, electrically neutral particles that are emitted during radioactive decay and can pass through the Earth virtually unaffected. Here we combine precise measurements of the geoneutrino flux from the Kamioka Liquid-Scintillator Antineutrino Detector, Japan, with existing measurements from the Borexino detector, Italy. We find that decay of uranium-238 and thorium-232 together contribute 20.0 +8.8 −8.6 TW to Earth's heat flux. The neutrinos emitted from the decay of potassium-40 are below the limits of detection in our experiments, but are known to contribute 4 TW. Taken together, our observations indicate that heat from radioactive decay contributes about half of Earth's total heat flux. We therefore conclude that Earth's primordial heat supply has not yet been exhausted.

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Observation of geo-neutrinos

Cited by 234 publications

References 33 publications

The next-generation liquid-scintillator neutrino observatory LENA

The next-generation liquid-scintillator neutrino observatory LENA

Spectroscopy of geoneutrinos from 2056 days of Borexino data

Partial radiogenic heat model for Earth revealed by geoneutrino measurements

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