Physics – Nuclear Physics – Nuclear Experiment
Scientific paper
2010-06-25
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 622 (2010) 93-96
Physics
Nuclear Physics
Nuclear Experiment
5 pages, 1 figure
Scientific paper
10.1016/j.nima.2010.06.270
We report the results of an experiment to determine whether the half-life of \Au{198} depends on the shape of the source. This study was motivated by recent suggestions that nuclear decay rates may be affected by solar activity, perhaps arising from solar neutrinos. If this were the case then the $\beta$-decay rates, or half-lives, of a thin foil sample and a spherical sample of gold of the same mass and activity could be different. We find for \Au{198}, $(T_{1/2})_{\rm foil}/(T_{1/2})_{\rm sphere} = 0.999 \pm 0.002$, where $T_{1/2}$ is the mean half-life. The maximum neutrino flux at the sample in our experiments was several times greater than the flux of solar neutrinos at the surface of the Earth. We show that this increase in flux leads to a significant improvement in the limits that can be inferred on a possible solar contribution to nuclear decays.
Buncher John B.
Fischbach Ephraim
Greene Geoffrey L.
Jenkins Jere H.
Krause Dennis E.
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