Borexino: Geo-neutrino measurement at Gran Sasso, Italy

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Borexino Collaboration - (Author)
  • Chair of Nuclear Physics
  • Gran Sasso Science Institute
  • Excellence Cluster ORIGINS
  • University of Milan
  • Princeton University
  • University of Hamburg
  • National Institute for Nuclear Physics
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • University of Genoa
  • Lomonosov Moscow State University
  • University of Houston
  • RAS - Saint Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute
  • Russian Research Centre Kurchatov Institute
  • Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
  • Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
  • Université Paris Cité
  • Jagiellonian University in Kraków
  • NASU - Institute of Nuclear Research
  • TUD Dresden University of Technology

Abstract

Geo-neutrinos, electron anti-neutrinos produced in b-decays of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in the Earth, are a unique direct probe of our planet’s interior. After a brief introduction of the geo-neutrinos’ properties and of the main aims of their study, we discuss the features of a detector which has recently provided breakthrough achievements in the field, Borexino, a massive, calorimetric liquid scintillator detector installed at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory. With its unprecedented ra-diopurity levels achieved in the core of the detection medium, it is the only experiment in operation able to study in real time solar neutrino interactions in the challenging sub-MeV energy region. Its superior technical properties allowed Borexino also to provide a clean detection of terrestrial neutrinos. Therefore, the description of the characteristics of the detected geo-neutrino signal and of the corresponding geological implications are the main core of the discussion contained in this work.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numberS0114
JournalAnnals of Geophysics
Volume60
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-6705-7138/work/176344574

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas