Speaker
Description
Geoneutrinos are the electron antineutrinos produced by beta decays of radioactive isotopes within the Earth. By detecting them, we can obtain information about the planet's radiogenic heat production and the distribution of heat-producing elements in the Earth.
To date, four detectors (KamLAND, Borexino, SNO+, and JUNO) have successfully detected geoneutrinos.
However, these detectors are located on thick continental crust, and the high concentration of radioactive isotopes in the continental crust limits our ability to investigate deeper layers of the Earth, particularly the mantle.
To address this challenge, a project called the Ocean Bottom Detector (OBD) was proposed in 2019 by Tohoku University. The concept involves deploying a neutrino detector on the ocean floor off the coast of Hawaii, where the oceanic crust is thin and contains fewer radioactive isotopes. This location is ideal for directly observing geoneutrinos originating from the mantle.
In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the OBD project and report on the current status of prototype development.
