605 research outputs found
Studying the Earth with Geoneutrinos
Geo-neutrinos, electron antineutrinos from natural radioactive decays inside
the Earth, bring to the surface unique information about our planet. The new
techniques in neutrino detection opened a door into a completely new
inter-disciplinary field of Neutrino Geoscience. We give here a broad
geological introduction highlighting the points where the geo-neutrino
measurements can give substantial new insights. The status-of-art of this field
is overviewed, including a description of the latest experimental results from
KamLAND and Borexino experiments and their first geological implications. We
performed a new combined Borexino and KamLAND analysis in terms of the
extraction of the mantle geo-neutrino signal and the limits on the Earth's
radiogenic heat power. The perspectives and the future projects having
geo-neutrinos among their scientific goals are also discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Advances
in High Energy Physics-Hindawi Publishing Corporatio
Neutrino oscillations
In the last decades, a very important breakthrough has been brought in the
elementary particle physics by the discovery of the phenomenon of the neutrino
oscillations, which has shown neutrino properties beyond the Standard Model.
But a full understanding of the various aspects of the neutrino oscillations is
far to be achieved. In this paper the theoretical background of the neutrino
oscillation phenomenon is described, referring in particular to the
paradigmatic models. Then the various techniques and detectors which studied
neutrinos from different sources are discussed, starting from the pioneering
ones up to the detectors still in operation and to those in preparation. The
physics results are finally presented adopting the same research path which has
crossed this long saga. The problems not yet fixed in this field are discussed,
together with the perspectives of their solutions in the near future
Review article "Geo-neutrinos"
Abstract. Geo-neutrinos, electron anti-neutrinos produced in β-decays of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in the Earth, are a unique direct probe of our planet's interior. After a brief introduction about the Earth (mostly for physicists) and the very basics about the neutrinos and anti-neutrinos (mostly for geologists), I describe the geo-neutrino properties and the main aims of their study. An overview of the latest experimental results obtained by KamLAND and Borexino experiments is provided. A short overview of future perspectives of this new inter-disciplinary field is given
Geoneutrinos
Geoneutrinos, antineutrinos produced by the radioactive decays within the Earth, are irreplaceable probes for studying the deep terrestrial interior. The data, obtained until now by only two experiments, KamLAND and Borexino,
provide a robust evidence that the technique to measure geoneutrinos has been developed and that the first hints on the Earth’s radiogenic heat, on the presence of Th and U in the mantle, and on the bulk U/Th mass ratio start to emerge
Geo-neutrinos
We review a new interdisciplinary field between Geology and Physics: the
study of the Earth's geo-neutrino flux. We describe competing models for the
composition of the Earth, present geological insights into the make up of the
continental and oceanic crust, those parts of the Earth that concentrate Th and
U, the heat producing elements, and provide details of the regional settings in
the continents and oceans where operating and planned detectors are sited.
Details are presented for the only two operating detectors that are capable of
measuring the Earth's geo-neutrinos flux: Borexino and KamLAND; results
achieved to date are presented, along with their impacts on geophysical and
geochemical models of the Earth. Finally, future planned experiments are
highlighted
Reactor Antineutrinos Signal all over the world
We present an updated estimate of reactor antineutrino signal all over the
world, with particular attention to the sites proposed for existing and future
geo-neutrino experiment. In our calculation we take into account the most
updated data on Thermal Power for each nuclear plant, on reactor antineutrino
spectra and on three neutrino oscillation mechanism.Comment: 4 pages including 1 figur
Potential of Geo-neutrino Measurements at JUNO
The flux of geoneutrinos at any point on the Earth is a function of the
abundance and distribution of radioactive elements within our planet. This flux
has been successfully detected by the 1-kt KamLAND and 0.3-kt Borexino
detectors with these measurements being limited by their low statistics. The
planned 20-kt JUNO detector will provide an exciting opportunity to obtain a
high statistics measurement, which will provide data to address several
questions of geological importance. This paper presents the JUNO detector
design concept, the expected geo-neutrino signal and corresponding backgrounds.
The precision level of geo-neutrino measurements at JUNO is obtained with the
standard least-squares method. The potential of the Th/U ratio and mantle
measurements is also discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, an additional author added, final version to
appear in Chin. Phys.
Low-energy neutrinos
There exist several kinds of sources emitting neutrinos in the MeV energy range. These low-energy neutrinos from different sources can be often detected by the same multipurpose detectors. The status-of-art of the field of solar neutrinos, geoneutrinos, and the search for sterile neutrino with artificial neutrino sources is provided here; other neutrino sources, as for example reactor or high-energy neutrinos, are described elsewhere. For each of these three fields, the present-day motivation and open questions, as well as the latest experimental results and future perspectives are discussed
Characterization of the Hamamatsu S8664 Avalanche Photodiode for X-Ray and VUV-light detection
We present the first operation of the Avalanche Photodiode (APD) from
Hamamatsu to xenon scintillation light and to direct X-rays of 22.1 keV and 5.9
keV. A large non-linear response was observed for the direct X-ray detection.
At 415 V APD bias voltage it was of about 30 % for 22.1 keV and about 45 % for
5.9 keV. The quantum efficiency for 172 nm photons has been measured to be 69
+/- 15 %.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Elsevie
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