Geoneutrinos

Academician M.A. Markov in the 1960s first proposed detecting the electron antineutrino in the reaction of inverse beta decay on a proton to study the processes inside the Earth. The radioactive isotopes ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K present in our planet decay with radiation of neutrinos (antineutrinos). Neutrinos that are produced reach the Earth’s surface practically without absorption and carry information about the internal structure of the planet. However, because of the smallness of the antineutrino fluxes and interaction cross sections with matter, antineutrinos of geological origin were first registered in only two experiments (Borexino and Kamland) in recent years. The experimental observation of antineutrinos from the isotope decays in the depths of the Earth is the only way to study the radiation in our planetary interior.