On the interpretation of annual oscillations in 32Si and 36Cl decay rate measurements

The 32 Si decay rate measurement data of Alburger et al. obtained in 1982–1986 at Brookhaven National Laboratory have been presented repeatedly as evidence for solar neutrino-induced beta decay. The count rates show an annual sinusoidal oscillation of about 0.1% amplitude and maximum at February–Mar...

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Published inScientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 16002
Main Authors Pommé, S., Pelczar, K., Kossert, K., Kajan, I.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 06.08.2021
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
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Summary:The 32 Si decay rate measurement data of Alburger et al. obtained in 1982–1986 at Brookhaven National Laboratory have been presented repeatedly as evidence for solar neutrino-induced beta decay. The count rates show an annual sinusoidal oscillation of about 0.1% amplitude and maximum at February–March. Several authors have claimed that the annual oscillations could not be explained by environmental influences on the set-up, and they questioned the invariability of the decay constant. They hypothesised a correlation with changes in the solar neutrino flux due to annual variations in the Earth-Sun distance, in spite of an obvious mismatch in amplitude and phase. In this work, environmental conditions at the time of the experiment are presented. The 32 Si decay rate measurements appear to be inversely correlated with the dew point in a nearby weather station. Susceptibility of the detection set-up to local temperature and humidity conditions is a likely cause of the observed instabilities in the measured decay rates. Similar conclusions apply to 36 Cl decay rates measured at Ohio State University in 2005–2012.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-95600-8