We report a reanalysis of data on the measured decay rate ratio 22Na/44Ti which were originally published by Norman et al., and interpreted as supporting the conventional hypothesis that nuclear decay rates are constant and not affected by outside influences. We find upon a more detailed analysis of both the amplitude and the phase of the Norman data that they actually favor the presence of an annual variation in 22Na/44Ti, albeit weakly. Moreover, this conclusion holds for a broad range of parameters describing the amplitude and phase of an annual sinusoidal variation in these data. The results from this and related analyses underscore the growing importance of phase considerations in understanding the possible influence of the Sun on nuclear decays. Our conclusions with respect to the phase of the Norman data are consistent with independent analyses of solar neutrino data obtained at Super-Kamiokande-I and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO).
@article{arxiv.1212.2198,
title = {Spectral Content of 22Na/44Ti Decay Data: Implications for a Solar Influence},
author = {Daniel O'Keefe and Brittany L. Morreale and Robert H. Lee and John B. Buncher and Ephraim Fischbach and Tom Gruenwald and Jere H. Jenkins and Daniel Javorsek and Peter A. Sturrock},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1212.2198},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science December 2012