Pages: 219-223

Authors: Jonathan Walg, Yael Peleg, Anatoly Rodnianski, Nir Hazenshprung, and Itzhak Orion

Abstract

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.

Key words: sun, flares, neutrino, decay constant

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