“the start of something that should be much fun in the future”
(J.G. Learned for NYTimes in 2005 commenting on the first geoneutrino detection)
Geoneutrinos are electron antineutrinos and neutrinos emitted in β-decays (β-, β+, EC) of radionuclides naturally occurring in the Earth. Neutrino detection experiments are now able to measure the highest energy antineutrinos from β- decays in 232Th and 238U decay chains. Geoneutrino measurements place constraints on the amount of radiogenic heat released in Earth’s interior, which powers the planet’s dynamics. These constraints will become more stringent as data collection continues at existing detectors, new detectors become operational, and new or improved detection methods are developed.
Wikipedia article on Geoneutrinos, which we started in January 2013.
Geoneutrinos section of Neutrino Unbound, a source of references maintained by Stefano Gariazzo, Carlo Giunti, and Marco Laveder.
 Total (crust+mantle) geoneutrino flux at Earth’s surface. Animation of Fig. 4a from Šrámek et al. EPSL 2013. |
 Mantle fraction of the geoneutrino flux. Animation of Fig. 4b from Šrámek et al. EPSL 2013. |
Conversion between geoneutrino flux (in 10e6 cm-2 s-1) and signal rate (in TNU) as a function of Th/U abundance ratio for inverse beta decay. See this PDF for the details of conversion calculation.
Geoneutrino-measuring experiments
KamLAND
Websites at Tohoku University, Stanford, LBL, 36.43 N 137.31 E
Sanshiro Enomoto’s Ph.D. Thesis: “Neutrino geophysics and observation of geo-neutrinos at KamLAND“, Tohoku University, 2005.
Borexino
borex.lngs.infn.it, 42.45 N 13.57 E
SNO+
snoplus.phy.queensu.ca, 46.47 N -81.20 E, 5890 ± 94 m.w.e.
JUNO
juno.ihep.ac.cn, 22.12 N 112.52 E ~700 m depth
Jinping
jinping.hep.tsinghua.edu.cn, 28.15323 N 101.7114 E ~2400 m depth
Geoneutrino measurements
KamLAND 2005, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2019:
- Araki et al.: “Experimental investigation of geologically produced antineutrinos with KamLAND.” Nature 436(7050), 499–503, 2005, doi:10.1038/nature03980.
- KamLAND Collaboration: “Partial radiogenic heat model for Earth revealed by geoneutrino measurements.” Nature Geosci. 4(9), 647–651, 2011, doi:10.1038/ngeo1205.
- KamLAND Collaboration: “Reactor on-off antineutrino measurement with KamLAND.” Phys. Rev. D 88(3), 033001, 2013, doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.88.033001 (arXiv:1303.4667).
- Watanabe (for the KamLAND Collaboration): “KamLAND.” Presented at International Workshop Neutrino Research and Thermal Evolution of the Earth, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, 25–27 October 2016.
- Watanabe (for the KamLAND Collaboration): “Geo-neutrino Measurement with KamLAND.” Presented at Neutrino Geosicence 2019 Prague, Czech Republic, 21–23 October 2019.
- KamLAND Collaboration: “Abundances of Uranium and Thorium Elements in Earth Estimated by Geoneutrino Spectroscopy.” Geophys. Res. Lett. 49(16), e2022GL099566, 2022, doi:10.1029/2022GL099566
Borexino 2010, 2013, 2015, 2019:
- Borexino Collaboration: “Observation of geo-neutrinos.” Phys. Lett. B 687(4-5) 299–304, 2010, doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.03.051.
- Borexino Collaboration: “Measurement of geo-neutrinos from 1353 days of Borexino.” Phys. Lett. B 722(4–5), 295–300, 2013, doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2013.04.030 (arXiv:1303.2571).
- Borexino Collaboration: “Spectroscopy of geoneutrinos from 2056 days of Borexino data.” Phys. Rev. D, 92(3), 031101, 2015, doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.92.031101 (arXiv:1506.04610).
- Borexino Collaboration: “Comprehensive geoneutrino analysis with Borexino.” Phys. Rev. D 101(1), 012009, 2020, doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.012009 (arXiv:1909.02257)
Geoneutrino science meetings, workshops, schools
- Neutrino Sciences 2005, Neutrino Geophysics, Honolulu, Hawaii, 14–16 December 2005
- Union Session U41F – Geoneutrinos: A New Tool for the Study of the Solid Earth I, AGU 2006 Joint Assembly, Baltimore, Maryland, 23–26 May 2006 (session information)
- Neutrino Sciences 2007, Deep Ocean Anti-Neutrino Observatory Workshop, Honolulu, Hawaii, 23–25 March 2007
- Neutrino Geoscience 2008 at SNOLAB, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, 17–19 September 2008
- Neutrino Geoscience 2010, Gran Sasso National Laboratory, Italy, 6–8 October 2010
- Neutrino Geoscience Workshop at CETUP* 2011, Deadwood, South Dakota, 20–22 June 2011
- Neutrino Geoscience 2013, Takayama, Japan, 21–23 March 2013
- Neutrino Geoscience 2015, IPG Paris, France, 15–17 June 2015
- Using Particle Physics To Understand And Image the Earth, ISAPP Summer Institute, Gran Sasso Science Institute, l’Aquila, Italy, July 11–21 2016
- Neutrino Research and Thermal Evolution of the Earth, International Workshop at Tohoku Forum for Creativity, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, 25–27 October 2016
- Workshop of Jinping Neutrino Experiment 2017, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Yanqihu Campus), Beijing, China, 15–16 July 2017
- Continental margin in South China: Multidisciplinary frontiers in neutrino geoscience, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 21–23 July 2017
- Neutrino Geoscience 2019 Prague, Czech Republic, 21–13 October 2019 (photos)
Popular coverage
2005
D. Overbye: “Baby Oil and Benzene Provide Look at Earth’s Radioactivity,” New York Times (28 July 2005)
B. Dumé: “Geoneutrinos make their debut,” PhysicsWorld.com (27 July 2005)
“First Measurement of Geoneutrinos at KamLAND,” PhysOrg.com (28 July 2005)
J. O. Löfken: “Erster Beweis für natürlichen Kernreaktor im Erdzentrum,” Die Welt (28 July 2005)
W. F. McDonough: “Ghosts from within” Nature (27 July 2005) [PDF]
2010
E. Cartlidge: “Borexino bags geoneutrinos,” PhysicsWorld.com (12 March 2010)
L. Edwards: “Borexino experiment detects geo-neutrinos,” PhysOrg.com (16 March 2010)
M. Koch: “Blitze aus der Erde,” neues-deutschland.de (Mar 20, 2010)
“Physicists Use Underground Lab to Detect Rare Particles, Peek into Earth’s Center,” PhysOrg.com (26 March 2010)
“Physicists detect geo-neutrinos from deep within Earth’s core,” sify.com (27 March 2010)
“Physicists Detect Geo-Neutrino Particles Using Borexino,” Azosensors.com (29 March 2010)
F. Flam: “Physicists hunt for a trace of the elusive, invisible geoneutrino,” PhysOrg.com (26 July 2010)
2011
P. Preuss: “What Keeps the Earth Cooking?” LBL.gov (17 July 2011)
C. Q. Choi: “Radioactive decay fuels Earth’s inner fires,” NBCNEWS.com (17 July 2011)
“Erde schöpft aus ursprünglichem Wärmevorrat,” Spiegel (18 July 2011)
2012
W. F. McDonough, J. G. Learned, S. Dye: “The many uses of electron antineutrinos” Physics Today (1 March 2012) [PDF]
A. Ananthaswamy: “Messengers from the underworld” New Scientist (25 April 2012) [PDF]
W. F. McDonough, J. G. Learned, S. Dye: “Des neutrinos pour sonder l’intérieur de la Terre” Pour la Science (25 juillet 2012) [PDF]
2013
A. Witze: “Detectors zero in on Earth’s heat,” Nature (2 April 2013) [PDF]
G. Roberts Jr.: “Journey from the center of the Earth,” Symmetry Magazine (18 June 2013)
2014
J. Qiu: “China Builds Mammoth Detector to Probe Mysteries of Neutrino Mass” Science (7 February 2014) [PDF]
W. F. McDonough, O. Šrámek: “Neutrino geoscience, news in brief” Environ. Earth Sci. (15 June 2014) [PDF]
A. Solliday: “When research worlds collide” Symmetry Magazine (23 September 2014) [PDF]
2017
„Geoneutrina poodhalí tajemství původu Země“ [Geoneutrinos will reveal secrets of Earth’s origin]. Inteview for magazine Forum, number 40 (2017) of Charles University [PDF]
2020
Michael Schirber: “Synopsis: Earth As a Neutrino Source” Physics (21 January 2020)
“Signals from inside Earth: Borexino experiment releases new data on geoneutrinos” ScienceDaily.com (22 January 2020)
Ling Xin: “Powerful New Observatory Will Taste Neutrinos’ Flavors” Scientific American (22 September 2020)