This issue’s “News in Brief” article takes a look at recent emerging research in neutrino geoscience. Geochemist William F. McDonough and geophysicist Ondřej Šrámek from the Department of Geology at the University of Maryland provide considerable insight into the research work and advancements on Earth’s heat budget and interior using geoneutrino measurements and models.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
K cannot be detected using current technology. This is because hydrogen in the liquid scintillator is the target for the anti-neutrino and the energy needed (1.806 MeV) to convert a proton into a positron and a neutron (i.e., inverse beta decay) is greater than the maximum energy from the potassium geoneutrino (1.311 MeV).
References
Araki T et al (2005) Experimental investigation of geologically produced antineutrinos with KamLAND. Nature 436:499–503. doi:10.1038/nature03980
Bellini G et al (2010) Observation of geo-neutrinos. Phys Lett B 687:299–304. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.03.051
Bellini G et al (2013) Measurement of geo-neutrinos from 1353 days of Borexino. Phys Lett B 722:295–300. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2013.04.030
Chen MC (2006) Geo-neutrinos in SNO+. Earth Moon Planet 99:221–228. doi:10.1007/s11038-006-9116-4
Gando A et al (2011) Partial radiogenic heat model for Earth revealed by geoneutrino measurements. Nat Geosci 4(9):647–651. doi:10.1038/ngeo1205
Gando A et al (2013) Reactor on-off antineutrino measurement with KamLAND. Phys Rev D 88:033001. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.88.033001
Huang Y, Chubakov Y, Mantovani F, Rudnick RL, McDonough WF (2013) A reference Earth model for the heat producing elements and associated geoneutrino flux. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 14:2003–2029. doi:10.1002/ggge.20129
Jaupart C, Labrosse S, Mareschal J-C (2007) Temperatures, heat and energy in the mantle of the earth. In: Bercovici D, Schubert G (eds) Treatise on geophysics, vol 7: Mantle dynamics, Elsevier, Netherlands, pp 253–303. doi:10.1016/B978-044452748-6.00114-0
Learned JG, Dye ST, Pakvasa S (2007) Hanohano: a deep ocean anti-neutrino detector for unique neutrino physics and geophysics studies. In: Baldo Ceolin M (ed) XII International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes, Venice. Papergraf, Padua, p 235
Masters TG, Shearer PM (1995) Seismic models of the earth: elastic and anelastic. In: Ahrens TJ (ed) Global earth physics: a handbook of physical constants, vol. AGU Reference Shelf. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, pp 88–103, doi:10.1029/RF001p0088
McDonough WF, Learned JG, Dye ST (2012) The many uses of electron anti-neutrinos. Physics Today 65:46–51. doi:10.1063/PT.3.1477
Šrámek O, McDonough WF, Kite ES, Lekić V, Dye ST, Zhong S (2013) Geophysical and geochemical constraints on geoneutrino fluxes from earth’s mantle. Earth Planet Sci Lett 361:356–366. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.11.001
Tanaka HKM (2014) Particle geophysics, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 42 (in press) (http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-earth-060313-054632)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McDonough, W.F., Šrámek, O. Neutrino geoscience, news in brief. Environ Earth Sci 71, 3787–3791 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3133-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3133-9