Capturing Relic Neutrinos with beta-decaying nuclei

We summarize a novel approach which has been recently proposed for direct detection of low energy neutrino backgrounds such as the cosmological relic neutrinos, exploiting neutrino/antineutrino capture on nuclei that spontaneously undergo beta decay.Comment: Talk given by G. Mangano at TAUP2007 Conference, Sendai, Japan, September 200

Probing Low Energy Neutrino Backgrounds with Neutrino Capture on Beta Decaying Nuclei

We study the interaction of low energy neutrinos on nuclei that spontaneously undergo beta decay showing that the product of the cross section times neutrino velocity takes values as high as 10^{-42} cm^2 c for some specific nuclei that decay via allowed transitions. The absence of energy threshold and the value of the cross section single out these processes as a promising though very demanding approach for future experiments aimed at a direct detection of low energy neutrino backgrounds such as the cosmological relic neutrinos.Comment: Includes a discussion of local relic neutrino density effect on neutrino capture rate. Accepted for publication in JCA