Type: Article
Publication Date: 2020-05-13
Citations: 16
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.101.103017
Paleodetectors are a proposed experimental technique in which one would search for traces of recoiling nuclei in ancient minerals. Natural minerals on Earth are as old as $\mathcal{O}(1)\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{Gyr}$ and, in many minerals, the damage tracks left by recoiling nuclei are also preserved for timescales long compared to 1 Gyr once created. Thus, even reading out relatively small target samples of order 100 g, paleodetectors would allow one to search for very rare events thanks to the large exposure, $系\ensuremath{\sim}100\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{g}\text{ }\mathrm{Gyr}={10}^{5}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{t}\text{ }\mathrm{yr}$. Here, we explore the potential of paleodetectors to measure nuclear recoils induced by neutrinos from Galactic core collapse supernovae. We find that they would not only allow for a direct measurement of the average core collapse supernova rate in the Milky Way, but would also contain information about the time dependence of the local supernova rate over the past $\ensuremath{\sim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{Gyr}$. Since the supernova rate is thought to be directly proportional to the star formation rate, such a measurement would provide a determination of the local star formation history. We investigate the sensitivity of paleodetectors to both a smooth time evolution and an enhancement of the core collapse supernova rate on relatively short timescales, as would be expected for a starburst period in the local group.