Paleo-Detectors for Galactic Supernova Neutrinos
  Paleo-detectors 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 $\mathcal{O}(1)\,$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, paleo-detectors would allow one to search for very rare events
thanks to the large exposure, $\varepsilon \sim 100\,{\rm g}\,{\rm Gyr} =
10^5\,{\rm t}\,{\rm yr}$. Here, we explore the potential of paleo-detectors 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 $\sim$1 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 paleo-detectors 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.
