Nuclear physics for geo-neutrino studies
Gianni Fiorentini, Aldo Ianni, George Korga, Marcello Lissia, Fabio Mantovani, Lino Miramonti, Lothar Oberauer, Michel Obolensky, Oleg Smirnov, and Yury Suvorov
Phys. Rev. C 81, 034602 – Published 4 March 2010
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.81.034602 [local copy]
Preprint: arXiv:0908.3433
Abstract
Geo-neutrino studies are based on theoretical estimates of geo-neutrino spectra. We propose a method for a direct measurement of the energy distribution of antineutrinos from decays of long-lived radioactive isotopes. We present preliminary results for the geo-neutrinos from 214Bi decay, a process that accounts for about one-half of the total geo-neutrino signal. The feeding probability of the lowest state of 214Bi —the most important for geo-neutrino signal— is found to be 
, under the hypothesis of universal neutrino spectrum shape (UNSS). This value is consistent with the (indirect) estimate of the table of isotopes. We show that achievable larger statistics and reduction of systematics should allow for the testing of possible distortions of the neutrino spectrum from that predicted using the UNSS hypothesis. Implications on the geo-neutrino signal are discussed.