Time of Flight Survey by Artificially Generated Neutrinos: A Novel Complementary Approach in Remote Sensing Geophysics

Abstract

In the present article I present a novel complementary geophysics methodology that represents a means for achieving an improved understanding of the Earth’s seismic activity. The concept is based on neutrino particle physics whereby neutrinos, artificially generated, are passed through the Earth’s lithosphere and core at varying angles to be detected by an array of fixed or mobile neutrino counters. By real-time assessment of time of flight of neutrino particles crustal deformation or strain changes may be made. This is based on the straightforward premise that deformations within the Earth’s crust shall alter the lengths of selected neutrino pathway baselines through areas at the junctions of tectonic plates forming active fault regions. The system can be arranged to scan an entire selected fault line at depth in an attempt to detect early on strain variations in the crustal structure that may be a prelude to fault line slippage or shear. The concept is built partly around the notion of dilatancy in crustal structure under stress in fault line regions and can be used to assess the contribution of this factor towards seismology. Physical alterations in rock structure via dilatancy principle would be predicted to adjust the baseline length for neutrinos passing through the crust. Such neutrino baseline determinations are carried out via neutrino sources and detectors placed remotely from the active site(s) of fault movement. Variations in Earth surface topography are not relevant to the approach, thus removing a significant source of error inherent with other methodologies aimed at fault site tracking. These methods are limited to surface analysis with data extrapolation to distortions occurring at some depth, viz: to the region(s) of initiation of seismic activities. Suitable internal and complementary controls are presented for neutrino time of flight, for example via InSar geodetic measurements. Combining the time of flight concept with measurements by other currently used seismological methods may be beneficial in assessing whether a pattern of recognition can be set up to estimate earthquake forerunner activity. Comparison to other currently accepted technologies for crustal strain measurement are made and comparative advantages of the time of flight concept are given. Drawbacks in development of the technique are discussed in the light of the current state of play of neutrino physics and likely error sources. From a remote geophysics aspect, the neutrino time of flight approach in combination with other procedures such as neutrino oscillation tomography mayenable an improved understanding of fluid movements and rock rheologyas part of the dynamic Earth’s structure. Overall, time of flight offers the potential as a useful additional technique to be developed for remote sensing geophysics.