Neutrino-Induced Decay: A Critical Review of the Arguments

There has been scientific debate about speculations that ‘neutrino-induced’ radioactive decay causes apparent violations of the exponential-decay law. Sturrock and others repeatedly publish papers asserting influences by solar and cosmic neutrinos on radioactive decay measurements and therefrom draw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Space science reviews 2022-12, Vol.218 (8), p.64, Article 64
Main Authors: Pommé, S., Pelczar, K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerospace Technology and Astronautics
Astrophysics and Astroparticles
Dark matter
Decay rate
Earth surface
Fluctuations
Oscillations
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Planetology
Radiation
Radioactive decay
Radioactivity
Radioisotopes
Solar neutrinos
Solar rotation
Space Exploration and Astronautics
Space science
Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics
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Summary:There has been scientific debate about speculations that ‘neutrino-induced’ radioactive decay causes apparent violations of the exponential-decay law. Sturrock and others repeatedly publish papers asserting influences by solar and cosmic neutrinos on radioactive decay measurements and therefrom draw conclusions about space science that are highly speculative. Recurrent themes in their work are claims that the solar neutrino flux reveals oscillations at a monthly rate which can be linked to solar rotation, that annual and monthly oscillations occur in radioactive decay rates or directionality of emitted radiation which can be linked to variations in solar and cosmic neutrino flux hitting Earth’s surface, and that unstable radioactivity measurements can be used as a source of information about the interior of the Sun and dark matter. Radionuclide metrologists have extensively investigated and refuted their arguments. Metrological evidence shows that radioactive decay does not violate the exponential-decay law and is not a probe for variations in solar neutrino flux. In this review paper, the main arguments of Sturrock are listed and counterarguments are presented. Reference is made to earlier published work in which the evidence has been scrutinised in detail.
ISSN:0038-6308
1572-9672
DOI:10.1007/s11214-022-00932-0