Measuring solar neutrinos over Gigayear timescales with Paleo Detectors

TL;DR

This paper proposes using paleo detectors—naturally occurring minerals that record neutrino interactions over geological times—to measure the evolution of the solar neutrino flux over gigayear timescales, offering insights into solar and Earth's climate history.

Contribution

It demonstrates the feasibility of using mineral-based paleo detectors to track the long-term evolution of the $^8$B solar neutrino flux over gigayear periods.

Findings

Track lengths of 15-30 nm are practical for detecting $^8$B neutrinos.

A collection of 0.1 kg minerals of different ages can probe solar neutrino flux rise.

Models of the solar abundance problem can be distinguished through these measurements.

Abstract

Measuring the solar neutrino flux over gigayear timescales could provide a new window to inform the Solar Standard Model as well as studies of the Earth's long-term climate. We demonstrate the feasibility of measuring the time-evolution of the $^8$B solar neutrino flux over gigayear timescales using paleo detectors, naturally occurring minerals which record neutrino-induced recoil tracks over geological times. We explore suitable minerals and identify track lengths of 15--30 nm to be a practical window to detect the $^8$B solar neutrino flux. A collection of ultra-radiopure minerals of different ages, each some 0.1 kg by mass, can be used to probe the rise of the $^8$B solar neutrino flux over the recent gigayear of the Sun's evolution. We also show that models of the solar abundance problem can be distinguished based on the time-integrated tracks induced by the $^8$B solar neutrino flux.