Antineutrino Geophysics with Liquid Scintillator Detectors

Abstract

Detecting the antineutrinos emitted by the decay of radioactive elements in the mantle and crust could provide a direct measurement of the total abundance of uranium and thorium in the Earth. In calculating the antineutrino flux at specific sites, the local geology of the crust and the background from the world's nuclear power reactors are important considerations. Employing a global crustal map, with type and thickness data, and using recent estimates of the uranium and thorium distribution in the Earth, we calculate the antineutrino event rate for two new neutrino detectors. We show that spectral features allow terrestrial antineutrino events to be identified above reactor antineutrino backgrounds and that the uranium and thorium contributions can be separately determined.Comment: Published paper differs from original submitted preprint because reviewers suggested updated continental crust U/Th abundances. Kamioka geographical location error was in preprint, partially corrected in published version. This version is the same as the published paper, with Kamioka fully corrected. Because of recent interest in this topic, this version is being made available, despite this work being 8 years ol