Funds are requested to support US scientists to participate at the Neutrino Geoscience 2013 meeting (www.awa.tohoku.ac.jp/geoscience2013/), 21-23 March, in Takayama, Japan. This meeting brings together geology and particle physics communities with shared interests in geoneutrino detection and data interpretation. Geoneutrinos are electron antineutrinos that come from the decay of Th and U from inside the Earth. This meeting is designed to initiate and foster an understanding of the shared science interests of these communities. The meeting will last three days (21-23 March) and discuss the latest results from the experiments in KamLAND, Japan and Borexino, Italy, as well as review future experiments in the field. The KamLAND and Borexino physics teams have stated that they are prepared to produce a publication of their latest results (comparable to the Phys Rev B 2010 and Nature Geoscience 2011 papers).
A subcommittee will select the US geo-scientists to bring to the meeting. Selection criteria are based on scientific breath and diversity including the fields of Seismology, Geodynamics, Mineral Physics, Geochemistry, Petrology and Geomagnetism. Preference will be given to new, first-time participants; and the committee specifically seeks to have at least on grad student or post-doc, as well as pre-tenured faculty and or lab scientists, and senior scientists. It is expected to support at this meeting a wide range of geoscientists including senior, mid-career and early career scientists and PhD students. Nearly all geoscientists have no available funding for attending such a meeting, and the field is newly emergent in geosciences.
The fifth international conference on Neutrino Geoscience was held in Takayama, Japan on March 21-23, 2013. This meeting brought together an international group of geologists and particle physicists studying the Earth's geo-neutrino emission, nearly massless, uncharged particle coming from the decay of U and Th inside the Earth. These particles bring unique and direct information about the Earth’s interior and thermal dynamics. "Neutrino Geoscience" provides geology with a new tool to study the Earth. Reports at the conference included the latest results from the Japanese and Italian experiments, as well as modeling results for predicting the Earth's geoneutrino emission, and future detectors and detector technologies. The website of the meeting: www.awa.tohoku.ac.jp/geoscience2013/ A wide range of scientists attended the meeting, including leaders in both fields and young grad students and post-docs beginning their research in the field. The support to US based scientists, including senior scientists, grad students and post-docs, to attend and participate in this meeting was valuable and greatly appreciated. Their participation also promoted further international collaboration in this field. The conference also offered an opportunity for scientists to see the underground KamLAND detector, the detector that first measured the Earth's geoneutrino signal. Tours of the KamLAND lab gave insights into the level of effort and investment in sensing the Earth radiogenic power.
