Basics of Analysis with Antineutrinos from Heat Producing Elements - K, U, Th in the Earth, MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW)

/Home/g. Open Source Courses/Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Undergraduate Courses

Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307,

This course covers the following questions. What are the predominant heat producing elements of the Earth? Where and how much are they? Are they present in the core of the Earth? Detection of antineutrinos generated in the Earth provides: 1) information on the sources of the terrestrial heat, 2) direct test of the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE) model and 3) testing of non-conventional models of Earth's core. Use of antineutrinos to probe the deep interior of our planet is becoming practical due to recent fundamental advances in the antineutrino detectors.