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I read a science report recently that mentioned an accidental discovery where radioactive decay rates shifted slightly slower in advance ( about a day and a half) of solar storms or in sync with sun's 33-day pattern/rotation of the sun's core. Seems that neutrinos emitted from within the sun or at surface of the sun arrive in advance of other wave/particle radiations AND effect earthly atomic natures.

Aside from predicting solar flares/storms, does this imply decaying atoms/elements absorb or block neutrino emissions to any substantial degree that might of use in other areas of science?

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  • $\begingroup$ Reports similar to this one go back a number of years: news.stanford.edu/news/2010/august/sun-082310.html physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2008/oct/02/… Two Decades: iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/27/040/… $\endgroup$ – Wayfaring Stranger Jan 29 '15 at 15:22
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    $\begingroup$ This might be better asked on the Physics SE, since this is more a question about neutrinos and the weak force in general. $\endgroup$ – zibadawa timmy May 20 '15 at 19:57
  • $\begingroup$ Neutrinos aren't affected by solar storms - even a little bit. They're created in Nuclear reactions and then they fly off in their merry way, passing through almost anything they come across. It's a good question to ask if Neutrinos can affect radioactive decay, but there's no tie-in to solar storms. $\endgroup$ – userLTK Jun 18 '15 at 18:38
  • $\begingroup$ Just that Ve Vu Vt precede other particles. How can we use the counts if earth based atomic clocks (decay rates) shift? $\endgroup$ – Cymatical Jun 21 '15 at 16:22
  • $\begingroup$ Somebody should repeat the experiment in a controlled underground environment. $\endgroup$ – Keith Thompson Jan 17 '16 at 20:09
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Resurrection alert.

I was Googling the subject and found this paper refuting an earlier paper claiming to have observed a neutrino-based effect on beta decay in radon.

Edit: another study here finding there to be no correlation.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks. I guess we have to admire the obstinate persistence of Sturrock, Fischbach, et al. ;) See the Physics.SE links I just posted in a comment on the question. $\endgroup$ – PM 2Ring Jun 11 at 10:40
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In the paper that this report is based on, 1, they simply see an annual period in the $\beta$ decay rates of radioactive isotope samples in the lab. Basically, the rate is a fraction of a percent higher in winter than in summer. They conclude that absent any simple instrumentation explanation:

we conclude that these results are consistent with the hypothesis that nuclear decay rates may be influenced by some form of solar radiation.

Several things can be changing in a laboratory during a year. Obviously, temperature and humidity changes and these were tested in the experiment. But, also radon levels change as the amount of outside air exchanged with inside air is changed. The solar cosmic ray flux (high energy electrons, protons, and He nuclei generated in the chromosphere of the sun) changes as the Sun angle changes, and neutrinos (produced in the core) also as Sun angle changes. These could be affecting nuclei decay rates directly or the instrument used to measure these (subtle changes in threshold energies, false counts from ions produced in the instrument, potential shifts, etc.).

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  • $\begingroup$ Agreed. Lots of variables in energy detection or isolation. This view of corona plasma is interesting to consider.link $\endgroup$ – Cymatical Jun 21 '15 at 16:55
  • $\begingroup$ This helps via Wikipedia - "three neutrino masses must be less than one millionth that of the electron." $\endgroup$ – Cymatical Jun 21 '15 at 17:27
  • $\begingroup$ Fermi's predictions that cosmic rays arose through material being accelerated by magnetic fields in interstellar space, is the electric universe theory. $\endgroup$ – Cymatical Jun 21 '15 at 17:38

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