Detecting 40K geoneutrinos with LiquidO

From 25% to 70% of Earth’s internal heat budget is deemed to be generated by the radioactive decay of the so-called heat-producing elements (i.e. U, Th and K). Potassium, the only semi-volatile element among them, seems to show from 10% to 30% of its expected chondritic abundance, making thus uncertain any heat balance estimation. Two theories stand on the possible fate of “missing K”: i) segregation of potassium into the core or ii) loss to space during planetary accretion. No experimental corroboration allows confirmation of these hypotheses yet. As a consequence, our knowledge of Earth’s internal heat budget and its thermal evolution has to rely on compositional models. Direct geoneutrino detection, however, permits to constrain, at least in part, Earth’s radiogenic heat production and its Urey ratio. Unfortunately, present state-of-the-art detection techniques based on Inverse Beta Decay (IBD) on free protons only permit the detection of geoneutrinos having energy above 1.8 MeV, leaving 40K-geoneutrinos (whose endpoint is at 1.3 MeV) impossible to detect. Detection via NC interactions such as elastic scattering has been proposed; however, solar and radioactivity backgrounds remain challenges limiting its feasibility. The novel LiquidO detection technique (Cabrera A. et al. - Neutrino Physics with an Opaque Detector - arXiv:1908.02859 - 2019) allows enabling for the first time the observation of 40K-geoneutrinos. LiquidO opaque detection medium allows for unprecedented particle identification and large loading capabilities for neutrino detection. A clear identification of single positrons event topology is possible upon CC interactions of geoneutrinos. This feature opens the door for the exploitation of loaded isotopes leading to new IBD interactions, making it thus possible to lower the minimum detectable antineutrino energy. A review of possible target candidates able to detect 40K-geoneutrinos will be presented here, together with their IBD cross-section and the corresponding expected signal for four different potential experimental sites. A few novels of possible isotope targets are presented here for the first time. The detection significance and the statistical uncertainty will then be discussed together with a possible methodology for the 40K-geoneutrino signal extraction.

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