Measuring solar neutrinos over Gigayear timescales with Paleo Detectors

Abstract

Measuring the solar neutrino flux over gigayear timescales could provide a new window to inform the Solar Standard Model as well as studies of the Earth's long-term climate. We demonstrate the feasibility of measuring the time-evolution of the ${}^8$B solar neutrino flux over gigayear timescales using paleo detectors, naturally occurring minerals which record neutrino-induced recoil tracks over geological times. We explore suitable minerals and identify track lengths of 15--30 nm to be a practical window to detect the ${}^8$B solar neutrino flux. A collection of ultra-radiopure minerals of different ages, each some 0.1 kg by mass, can be used to probe the rise of the ${}^8$B solar neutrino flux over the recent gigayear of the Sun's evolution. We also show that models of the solar abundance problem can be distinguished based on the time-integrated tracks induced by the ${}^8$B solar neutrino flux.

Comments: 9 pages, 7 figures