No correlation between Solar flares and the decay rate of several $β$-decaying isotopes

Abstract

We report on finding no correlation between the two strongest observed Solar flares in September 2017 and the decay rates of $^{60}$Co, $^{44}$Ti and $^{137}$Cs sources, which are continuously measured by two independent NaI(Tl) detector setups. We test for variations in the number of observed counts with respect to the number of expected counts over multiple periods with timescales varying from 1 to 109 hours around the Solar flare. No excess or deficit exceeds the 2$σ$ global significance. We set a conservative lower limit on the decay rate deviation over an 84-hour period around the two correlated Solar flares in September 2017 to $0.044\%$ with 2$σ$ confidence. A fractional change of $~0.1\%$ in the decay rate of $^{54}$Mn over a period of 84 hours was claimed with 7$σ$ significance during multiple Solar flares in December 2006. We exclude such an effect at 4.7$σ$ significance.

Corrected typos, revised table values, results unchanged Will be published in Astroparticle Physics, Volume 103, December 2018, Pages 62-66 9 pages, 2 figures and 1 table. Keywords: Solar Flares, Radioactivity, Beta Decays, Neutrinos, Global Significance