Testing claims of the GW170817 binary neutron star inspiral affecting β-decay rates

• Published in: Astroparticle physics 2020-05, Vol.119 (C), p.102431, Article 102431
• Main Authors: Breur, P.A., Nobelen, J.C.P.Y., Baudis, L., Brown, A., Colijn, A.P., Dressler, R., Lang, R.F., Massafferri, A., Perci, R., Pumar, C., Reuter, C., Schumann, D., Schumann, M., Towers, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Beta-decay; Global significance; GW170817; Look-Elsewhere effect; Neutrinos; Neutron star merger
• ISSN: 0927-6505; 1873-2852
• DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2020.102431

On August 17, 2017, the first gravitational wave signal from a binary neutron star inspiral (GW170817) was detected by Advanced LIGO and Advanced VIRGO. Here we present radioactive β-decay rates of three independent sources 44Ti, 60Co and 137Cs, monitored during the same period by a precision experiment designed to investigate the decay of long-lived radioactive sources. We do not find any significant correlations between decay rates in a 5 h time interval following the GW170817 observation. This contradicts a previous claim published in this journal of an observed 2.5σ Pearson Correlation between fluctuations in the number of observed decays from two β-decaying isotopes (32Si and 36Cl) in the same time interval. By correcting for the choice of an arbitrary time interval, we find no evidence of a correlation above 1.5σ confidence. In addition, we argue that such analyses on correlations in arbitrary time intervals should always correct for the so-called Look-Elsewhere effect by quoting the global significance.