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We find that recent results from the KamLAND collaboration on geologically produced antineutrinos, N(U+Th) = 28+16-15 events, correspond to a radiogenic heat production from Uranium and Thorium decay chains H(U+Th) = 38+35-33 TW. The 99% confidence limit on the geo-neutrino signal translates into the upper bound H(U+Th) < 162 TW, which is much weaker than that claimed by KamLAND, H(U+Th) < 60 TW, based on a too narrow class of geological models. We also performed an analysis of KamLAND data including recent high precision measurements of the C13(alpha,n)O16 cross section. The result, N(U+Th) = 31+14-13, corroborates the evidence (approx 2.5sigma) for geo-neutrinos in KamLAND data.
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We comment on the first indication of geo-neutrino events from KamLAND and on the prospects for understanding Earth energetics. Practically all models of terrestrial heat production are consistent with data within the presently limited statistics, the fully radiogenic model being closer to the observed value ($approx 9$ geo-events). In a few years KamLAND should collect sufficient data for a clear evidence of geo-neutrinos, however discrimination among models requires a detector with the class and size of KamLAND far away from nuclear reactors. We also remark that the event ratio from Thorium and Uranium decay chains is well fixed $N(Th)/N(U) simeq 0.25$, a constraint that can be useful for determining neutrino oscillation parameters. We show that a full spectral analysis, including this constraint, further reduces the oscillation parameter space compared to an analysis with an energy threshold $E_{vis}>2.6 MeV$.
The first results from the KamLAND experiment have provided confirmational evidence for the Large Mixing Angle (LMA) MSW solution to the solar neutrino problem. We do a global analysis of solar and the recently announced KamLAND data (both rate and spectrum) and investigate its effect on the allowed region in the $Delta m^2-tan^2theta$ plane. The best-fit from a combined analysis which uses the KamLAND rate plus global solar data comes at $Delta m^2 = 6.06 times 10^{-5}$ eV $^2$ and $tan^2theta=0.42$, very close to the global solar best-fit, leaving a large allowed region within the global solar LMA contour. The inclusion of the KamLAND spectral data in the global fit gives a best-fit $Delta m^2 = 7.15 times 10^{-5}$ eV $^2$ and $tan^2theta=0.42$ and constrains the allowed areas within LMA, leaving essentially two allowed zones. Maximal mixing though allowed by the KamLAND data alone is disfavored by the global solar data and remains disallowed at about $3sigma$. The LOW solution is now ruled out at about 5$sigma$ w.r.t. the LMA solution.
Long-lived radioactive nuclides, such as $^{40}$K, $^{232}$Th, $^{235}$U and $^{238}$U, contribute to persistent heat production in the mantle of terrestrial-type planets. As refractory elements, the concentrations of Th and U in a terrestrial exoplanet are implicitly reflected in the photospheric abundances in the stellar host. However, a robust determination of these stellar abundances is difficult in practice owing to the general paucity and weakness of the relevant spectral features. We draw attention to the refractory, $r-$process element europium, which may be used as a convenient and practical proxy for the population analysis of radiogenic heating in exoplanetary systems. As a case study, we present a determination of Eu abundances in the photospheres of $alpha$ Cen A and B. We find that europium is depleted with respect to iron by $sim$ 0.1 dex and to silicon by $sim$ 0.15 dex compared to solar in both binary components. To first order, the measured Eu abundances can be converted to the abundances of $^{232}$Th, $^{235}$U and $^{238}$U with observational constraints while the abundance of $^{40}$K is approximated independently with a Galactic chemical evolution model. We find that the radiogenic heat budget in an $alpha$-Cen-Earth is $73.4^{+8.3}_{-6.9}$ TW upon its formation and $8.8^{+1.7}_{-1.3}$ TW at the present day, respectively $23pm5$ % and $54pm5$ % lower than that in the Hadean and modern Earth. As a consequence, mantle convection in an $alpha$-Cen-Earth is expected to be overall weaker than that of the Earth (assuming other conditions are the same) and thus such a planet would be less geologically active, suppressing its long-term potential to recycle its crust and volatiles. With Eu abundances being available for a large sample of Sun-like stars, the proposed approach can extend our ability to make predictions about the nature of other rocky worlds.
We do a re-analysis to asses the impact of the results of the Borexino experiment and the recent 2.8 KTy KamLAND data on the solar neutrino oscillation parameters. The current Borexino results are found to have no impact on the allowed solar neutrino parameter space. The new KamLAND data causes a significant reduction of the allowed range of $Delta m^2_{21}$, determining it with an unprecedented precision of 8.3% at 3$sigma$. The precision of $Delta m^2_{21}$ is controlled practically by the KamLAND data alone. Inclusion of new KamLAND results also improves the upper bound on $sin^2theta_{12}$, but the precision of this parameter continues to be controlled by the solar data. The third mixing angle is constrained to be $sin^2theta_{13} < 0.063$ at $3sigma$ from a combined fit to the solar, KamLAND, atmospheric and CHOOZ results. We also address the issue of how much further reduction of allowed range of $Delta m^2_{21}$ and $sin^2theta_{12}$ is possible with increased statistics from KamLAND. We find that there is a sharp reduction of the $3sigma$ ``spread with enhanced statistics till about 10 KTy after which the spread tends to flatten out reaching to less than 4% with 15 KTy data. For $sin^2theta_{12}$ however, the spread is more than 25% even after 20 KTy exposure and assuming $theta_{12} < pi/4$, as dictated by the solar data. We show that with a KamLAND like reactor ``SPMIN experiment at a distance of $sim$ 60 km, the spread of $sin^2theta_{12}$ could be reduced to about 5% at $3sigma$ level while $Delta m_{21}^2$ could be determined to within 4%, with just 3 KTy exposure.
The KamLAND and Borexino experiments have detected electron antineutrinos produced in the decay chains of natural thorium and uranium (Th and U geoneutrinos). We analyze the energy spectra of current geoneutrino data in combination with solar and long-baseline reactor neutrino data, with marginalized three-neutrino oscillation parameters. We consider the case with unconstrained Th and U event rates in KamLAND and Borexino, as well as cases with fewer degrees of freedom, as obtained by successively assuming for both experiments a common Th/U ratio, a common scaling of Th+U event rates, and a chondritic Th/U value. In combination, KamLAND and Borexino can reject the null hypothesis (no geoneutrino signal) at 5 sigma. Interesting bounds or indications emerge on the Th+U geoneutrino rates and on the Th/U ratio, in broad agreement with typical Earth model expectations. Conversely, the results disfavor the hypothesis of a georeactor in the Earths core, if its power exceeds a few TW. The interplay of KamLAND and Borexino geoneutrino data is highlighted.
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