Observation of geo-neutrinos
- Bellini, G.
- Benziger, J.
- Bonetti, S.
- Avanzini, M. Buizza
- Caccianiga, B.
- Cadonati, L.
- Calaprice, F.
- Carraro, C.
- Chavarria, A.
- Dalnoki-Veress, F.
- d'Angelo, D.
- Davini, S.
- de Kerret, H.
- Derbin, A.
- Etenko, A.
- Fiorentini, G.
- Fomenko, K.
- Franco, D.
- Galbiati, C.
- Gazzana, S.
- Ghiano, C.
- Giammarchi, M.
- Goeger-Neff, M.
- Goretti, A.
- Guardincerri, E.
- Hardy, S.
- Ianni, Aldo
- Ianni, Andrea
- Joyce, M.
- Kobychev, V. V.
- Koshio, Y.
- Korga, G.
- Kryn, D.
- Laubenstein, M.
- Leung, M.
- Lewke, T.
- Litvinovich, E.
- Loer, B.
- Lombardi, P.
- Ludhova, L.
- Machulin, I.
- Manecki, S.
- Maneschg, W.
- Manuzio, G.
- Meindl, Q.
- Meroni, E.
- Miramonti, L.
- Misiaszek, M.
- Montanari, D.
- Muratova, V.
- Oberauer, L.
- Obolensky, M.
- Ortica, F.
- Pallavicini, M.
- Papp, L.
- Perasso, L.
- Perasso, S.
- Pocar, A.
- Raghavan, R. S.
- Ranucci, G.
- Razeto, A.
- Re, A.
- Ricci, B.
- Risso, P.
- Romani, A.
- Rountree, D.
- Sabelnikov, A.
- Saldanha, R.
- Salvo, C.
- Schönert, S.
- Simgen, H.
- Skorokhvatov, M.
- Smirnov, O.
- Sotnikov, A.
- Sukhotin, S.
- Suvorov, Y.
- Tartaglia, R.
- Testera, G.
- Vignaud, D.
- Vogelaar, R. B.
- von Feilitzsch, F.
- Winter, J.
- Wojcik, M.
- Wright, A.
- Wurm, M.
- Xu, J.
- Zaimidoroga, O.
- Zavatarelli, S.
- Zuzel, G.
DOIAbstract
Geo-neutrinos, electron anti-neutrinos produced in β decays of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in the Earth, are a unique direct probe of our planet's interior. We report the first observation at more than 3σ C.L. of geo-neutrinos, performed with the Borexino detector at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. Anti-neutrinos are detected through the neutron inverse β decay reaction. With a 252.6 ton yr fiducial exposure after all selection cuts, we detected 9.9+4.1-3.4(+14.6-8.2) geo-neutrino events, with errors corresponding to a 68.3% (99.73%) C.L. From the lnL profile, the statistical significance of the Borexino geo-neutrino observation corresponds to a 99.997% C.L. Our measurement of the geo-neutrinos rate is 3.9+1.6-1.3(+5.8-3.2...
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