Solar Neutrino Variability and Its Implications for Solar Physics and Neutrino Physics

Sturrock, P. A.

doi:10.1086/594993

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This case was subsequently strengthened as a result of an analysis by our group [7,8], where an additional periodicity was identified in the BNL data at 11.25±0.07/yr, and in the PTB data at 11.21±0.13/yr. Both of these peaks may be linked to the rotation (and probable inhomogeneous nature) of the core of the Sun [9][10][11]. A third periodicity was also identified by our group [12] in both the BNL and PTB data sets, which is analogous to the Rieger periodicity [13] with a period of approximately 173 days.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Additional experimental evidence for a solar influence on nuclear decay rates

Jenkins

Herminghuysen

Blue

et al. 2012

Astroparticle Physics

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Additional experimental evidence is presented in support of the recent hypothesis that a possible solar influence could explain fluctuations observed in the measured decay rates of some isotopes. These data were obtained during routine weekly calibrations of an instrument used for radiological safety at The Ohio State University Research Reactor using 36 Cl. The detector system used was based on a Geiger-Müller gas detector, which is a robust detector system with very low susceptibility to environmental changes. A clear annual variation is evident in the data, with a maximum relative count rate observed in January/February, and a minimum relative count rate observed in July/August, for seven successive years from July 2005 to June 2011. This annual variation is not likely to have arisen from changes in the detector surroundings, as we show here.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Additional experimental evidence for a solar influence on nuclear decay rates

Jenkins

Herminghuysen

Blue

et al. 2012

Astroparticle Physics

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“…year -1 , very close to the major peak (at 11.85 year -1 ) found in a comparative analysis of low-energy solar neutrino data and total solar irradiance data [18,19]. We examine the significance of this peak in Section 5, using the shuffle and shake tests.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Power spectrum analysis of BNL decay rate data

Sturrock

Buncher

Fischbach

et al. 2010

Astroparticle Physics

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Evidence for an anomalous annual periodicity in certain nuclear decay data has led to speculation concerning a possible solar influence on nuclear processes. As a test of this hypothesis, we here search for evidence in decay data that might be indicative of a process involving solar rotation, focusing on data for 32 Si and 36 Cl decay rates acquired at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Examination of the power spectrum over a range of frequencies (10 -15 year -1 ) appropriate for solar synodic rotation rates reveals several periodicities, the most prominent being one at 11.18 year -1 with power 20.76. We evaluate the significance of this peak in terms of the false-alarm probability, by means of the shuffle test, and also by means of a new test (the "shake" test) that involves small random time displacements. The last two tests are the more robust, and indicate that the peak at 11.18 year -1 would arise by chance only once out of about 10 7 trials. However, the fact that there are several peaks in the rotational search band suggests that modulation of the count rate involves several low-Q oscillations rather than a single high-Q oscillation, possibly indicative of a partly stochastic process. To pursue this possibility, we investigate the running mean of the power spectrum, and identify a major peak at 11.93 year -1 with peak running-mean power 4.08. Application of the shuffle test indicates that there is less than one chance in 10 11 of finding by chance a value as large as 4.08.Application of the shake test leads to a more restrictive result that there is less than one chance in 10 15 of finding by chance a value as large as 4.08. We find that there is notable agreement in the running-mean power spectra in the rotational search band formed from BNL data and from ACRIM total solar irradiance data. Since rotation rate estimates derived from irradiance data have been found to be closely related to rotation rate estimates derived from low-energy solar-neutrino data, this result supports the recent conjecture that solar neutrinos may be responsible for variations in nuclear decay rates.We also carry out a similar comparison with local temperature measurements, but find no similarity between power spectra formed from BNL measurements and from local temperature measurements.3/31

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“…There is supporting evidence for this conjecture. A combined analysis (Sturrock, 2008(Sturrock, , 2009) of low-energy solar neutrino data from the Homestake (Cleveland et al, 1998, Davis, 1996 and GALLEX (Anselmann et al, 1993(Anselmann et al, , 1995 experiments and of total solar irradiance data from the ACRIM experiment (Willson, 1979(Willson, , 2001) yields evidence of a periodicity of approximately 11.85 year −1 , corresponding to a sidereal rotation frequency of 12.85 year −1 . Also, a recent analysis of Mount Wilson solar diameter measurements yields evidence of oscillations originating in a region with sidereal rotation frequency of 12.08 year −1 (Sturrock and Bertello, 2010).…”

Section: Jenkinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Further Evidence Suggestive of a Solar Influence on Nuclear Decay Rates

2011

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Recent analyses of nuclear decay data show evidence of variations suggestive of a solar influence. Analyses of datasets acquired at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) both show evidence of an annual periodicity and of periodicities with sidereal frequencies in the neighborhood of 12.25 year −1 (at a significance level that we have estimated to be 10 −17 ). It is notable that this implied rotation rate is lower than that attributed to the solar radiative zone, suggestive of a slowly rotating solar core. This leads us to hypothesize that there may be an "inner tachocline" separating the core from the radiative zone, analogous to the "outer tachocline" that separates the radiative zone from the convection zone. The Rieger periodicity (which has a period of about 154 days, corresponding to a frequency of 2.37 year −1 ) may be attributed to an r-mode oscillation with spherical-harmonic indices l = 3, m = 1, located in the outer tachocline. This suggests that we may test the hypothesis of a solar influence on nuclear decay rates by searching BNL and PTB data for evidence of a "Rieger-like" r-mode oscillation, with l = 3, m = 1, in the inner tachocline. The appropriate search band for such an oscillation is estimated to be 2.00-2.28 year −1 . We find, in both datasets, strong evidence of a periodicity at 2.11 year −1 . We estimate that the probability of obtaining these results by chance is 10 −12 .

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Solar Neutrino Variability and Its Implications for Solar Physics and Neutrino Physics

Cited by 15 publications

References 36 publications

Additional experimental evidence for a solar influence on nuclear decay rates

Additional experimental evidence for a solar influence on nuclear decay rates

Power spectrum analysis of BNL decay rate data

Further Evidence Suggestive of a Solar Influence on Nuclear Decay Rates

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