Geoneutrinos at Jinping: Flux prediction and oscillation analysis

Abstract

Geoneutrinos are electron antineutrinos (${\bar{\nu }}_e$) generated by the beta-decays of radionuclides naturally occurring inside the Earth, in particular ${}^{238}$U, ${}^{232}$Th, and ${}^{40}$K. Measurement of these neutrinos provides powerful constraints on the radiogenic heat of the Earth and tests on the Earth models. Since the prediction of ${\bar{\nu }}_e$'s in geoneutrino flux is subject to neutrino oscillation effects, we performed a calculation including detailed oscillation analysis in the propagation of geoneutrinos and reactor neutrinos generated around the Earth. The expected geoneutrino signal, the reactor neutrino background rates and the systematic error budget are provided for a proposed 3-kiloton neutrino detector at the Jinping underground lab in Sichuan, China. In addition, we evaluated sensitivities for the geoneutrino flux, Th/U ratio and power of a possible fission reactor in the interior of Earth.

References in corpus (1)

• Reference worldwide model for antineutrinos from reactors

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The China Jinping Underground Laboratory and its Early Science
• Neutrinos from beta processes in a presupernova: probing the isotopic evolution of a massive star
• Non-negligible Oscillation Effects in the Crustal Geo-neutrino Calculations
• Assay of low-background stainless steel by smelting for the neutrino experiment at Jinping