Geoneutrinos at Jinping: Flux prediction and oscillation analysis

TL;DR

This paper predicts geoneutrino fluxes and analyzes neutrino oscillations for a proposed detector at Jinping, providing insights into Earth's radiogenic heat and internal processes through detailed flux and background calculations.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive flux prediction including oscillation effects and evaluates sensitivities for Earth's radiogenic heat, Th/U ratio, and internal reactor power.

Findings

Predicted geoneutrino flux at Jinping with oscillation effects

Estimated reactor neutrino background rates and systematic errors

Assessed sensitivity to Earth's radiogenic heat and internal reactor presence

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.