No abstract

Solar neutrino detection is known to be a very challenging task, due to the minuscule absorption cross-section and mass of the neutrino. One research showed that relative large solar-flares affected the decay-rates of Mn-54 in December 2006. Since most the radiation emitted during a solar flare are blocked before reaching the earth surface, it should be assumed that such decay-rate changes could be due to neutrino flux increase from the sun, in which only neutrinos can penetrate the radionuclide. This study employs the Rn-222 radioactive source for the task of solar flare detection, based on the prediction that it will provide a stable gamma ray counting rate. In order to ascertain counting stability, three counting systems were constructed to track the count-rate changes. The Rn-222 count-rate measurements showed several radiation counting dips, indicating that the radioactive nuclide can be affected by order of magnitude neutrino flux change from the sun. We conclude that using the cooled Radon source obtained the clearest responses, and therefore this is the preferable system for detecting neutrino emissions from a controlled source.

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Changes in radioactive decay rates due to solar flares have attracted increasing scientific attention in recent decades. In previous studies we demonstrated that solar flares cause changes in the decay rate of 241Am, 222Rn, and 232Th. The change in the count rate of 54Mn due to solar flares, as observed by scholars at Purdue University in 2006, encouraged us to repeat the measurements. In addition, we measured gamma radiation count rates of 57Co that undergoes electron capture, as in 54Mn decay. Our new measurements indicate that there is a delay of about five days between the solar flare occurrence and the decrease in 54Mn count rates. Also, we conclude that in the 54Mn study of 2006 there was a delay between the solar flares and the resulting count rate dips. With regard to the 57Co counting system, we measured about a seven-day delay between the occurrence of solar flares and the count rate dips. We conclude that 54Mn and 57Co interact with neutrinos that originate during solar flares.