Abstract
Measuring the cosmic ray flux over timescales comparable to the age of the Solar System, ∼4.5 Gyr, could provide a new window on the history of the Earth, the Solar System, and even our Galaxy. We present a technique to indirectly measure the rate of cosmic rays as a function of time using the imprints of atmospheric neutrinos in "paleo-detectors," natural minerals that record damage tracks from nuclear recoils. Minerals commonly found on Earth are ≲1 Gyr old, providing the ability to look back across cosmic ray history on timescales of the same order as the age of the Solar System. Given a collection of differently aged samples dated with reasonable accuracy, this technique is particularly well-suited to measuring historical changes in the cosmic ray flux at Earth and is broadly applicable in astrophysics and geophysics.
Highlights
Measuring the cosmic ray flux over timescales comparable to the age of the Solar System, ∼4.5 Gyr, could provide a new window on the history of the Earth, the Solar System, and even our Galaxy
We present a technique to indirectly measure the rate of cosmic rays as a function of time using the imprints of atmospheric neutrinos in “paleo-detectors,” natural minerals that record damage tracks from nuclear recoils
Given a collection of differently aged samples dated with reasonable accuracy, this technique is well-suited to measuring historical changes in the cosmic ray flux at Earth and is broadly applicable in astrophysics and geophysics
Summary
Measuring the cosmic ray flux over timescales comparable to the age of the Solar System, ∼4.5 Gyr, could provide a new window on the history of the Earth, the Solar System, and even our Galaxy. We present a technique to indirectly measure the rate of cosmic rays as a function of time using the imprints of atmospheric neutrinos in “paleo-detectors,” natural minerals that record damage tracks from nuclear recoils.
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