Probing Earth's core using atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the presence of NSI at INO-ICAL

TL;DR

This paper explores how atmospheric neutrino oscillations, especially with non-standard interactions, can be used to probe Earth's inner structure and core-mantle boundary with a magnetized iron calorimeter detector.

Contribution

It introduces a method to use atmospheric neutrino oscillations with NSI to validate Earth's core and measure the core-mantle boundary position.

Findings

Neutrino matter effects depend on energy and electron density.

NSI significantly modify oscillation patterns and Earth tomography results.

Neutrino experiments can complement seismic studies of Earth's interior.

Abstract

Neutrinos can serve as a complementary and independent tool to gravitational and seismic studies in exploring the interior of Earth, thanks to their unique properties: extremely low interaction cross sections and flavor oscillations. With the precise measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters and observation of the non-zero value of mixing angle $\theta_{13}$, it has become feasible to detect the forward scattering of GeV-energy atmospheric neutrinos passing through Earth with ambient electrons in the form of matter effects on neutrino oscillation probabilities. These matter effects depend on both the neutrino energy and electron density distribution along their path, making them ideally suited for exploring the inner structure of Earth. Furthermore, in the presence of non-standard interactions (NSI) of neutrinos with matter, oscillation patterns undergo additional modifications. In this study, we quantify the capability of an atmospheric neutrino experiment, such as a magnetized iron calorimeter detector, to validate the Earth's core and measure the position of the core-mantle boundary in the presence of NSI. We perform this study considering a three-layered density profile of Earth. Our analysis demonstrates that neutrino non-standard interactions impact these Earth tomography measurements in comparison to standard interactions.