Additional experimental evidence for a solar influence on nuclear decay rates

TL;DR

This study provides additional experimental evidence supporting the hypothesis that solar activity may influence nuclear decay rates, demonstrated by consistent annual variations in measurements over seven years using a robust detector system.

Contribution

It presents new long-term data showing annual decay rate fluctuations, strengthening the case for a solar influence on nuclear decay.

Findings

Annual variation in decay rates observed consistently over seven years.

The variation peaks in January/February and troughs in July/August.

Detector system robustness suggests environmental factors are unlikely causes.

Abstract

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 Cl-36. The detector system used was based on a Geiger-Mueller 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.