Abstract
The study of the flux of atmospheric neutrino crossing the Earth can provide useful information not only on the matter density of the different layers that make up the planet but also on their chemical composition. The key phenomenon that makes this possible is flavor oscillations and their dependence on the electron density along the neutrino baseline. To extract the relevant information, we simulate the energy and azimuth angle distribution of events produced in a generic neutrino telescope by atmospheric neutrinos passing through the deepest parts of the Earth. Changes in the densities of the outer core and the mantle are implemented by varying the location of the boundary between these layers so that the restrictions on the mass of and the moment of inertia of the Earth are both satisfied. This allows us to examine the effect of simultaneous changes in composition and density of the outer core, unlikely other works on the subject, where only one of these quantities was varied.
Highlights
While the distribution of the matter density can be inferred from seismological observations, the compositional structure of the Earth is more difficult to determine
In this work we reexamine the feasibility of studying the internal structure of the planet by means of oscillation tomography with atmospheric neutrinos, namely, those produced in the atmosphere by the interactions of cosmic rays with air nuclei
This is done by introducing a scheme for density variations, in which they are caused by changes in the radius of the outer core Roc around the value Roc = 3480 km
Summary
While the distribution of the matter density can be inferred from seismological observations, the compositional structure of the Earth is more difficult to determine. The nature and content of the light elements has important implications for convection in the outer core, which in turn is closely related to the geodynamo that generates the planetary magnetic field They are linked to the scenario of Earth’s differentiation, the rate of core cooling, and the way the core and the mantle interact. Since the Z /A ratio is a function of the chemical and isotopic composition of the medium, from the determination of the densities of matter and electrons, it might be possible in principle to restrict the different composition models of the Earth With this in mind, in this work we reexamine the feasibility of studying the internal structure of the planet by means of oscillation tomography with atmospheric neutrinos, namely, those produced in the atmosphere by the interactions of cosmic rays with air nuclei. We included an appendix with details of the derivation of the transition amplitudes between flavor neutrinos in a medium with a symmetric density profile
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