Probing Earth's Chemical Composition with Neutrino Oscillation Tomography

Current geophysical models are uncertain about Earth's precise chemical composition, including light elements in the outer core and the nature of Large Low-Velocity Provinces (LLVP). Neutrino oscillation tomography offers a novel, complementary probe to study these deep-Earth structures. We investigate using GeV-scale atmospheric neutrinos, whose flavor oscillations are altered as they pass through the Earth via the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect. This matter effect is uniquely sensitive to Earth's electron density (Ne), which depends on both mass density and chemical composition (Z/A). To ensure robustness, we compared different neutrino propagation codes for 1D and performed validations of propagation models for 3D Earth models. Using neutrino propagation packages, we show that to muon neutrino to electron neutrino oscillation patterns are distinct for different core and mantle compositions. This presentation discusses the feasibility of using neutrinos to decode Earth's chemical composition from its density, opening a new window into geochemistry, in the context of the Hyper-Kamiokande Detector.