Time-varying Nuclear Decay Constants: Implications for New Physics?

Recent results from a number of groups studying radioactive decays have provided evidence for various periodicities in nuclear decay “constants”. These include an annual modulation and periodic signals of approximately 30 days and 173 days. By now, more than a dozen such effects have been reported by different groups studying a variety of radioactive isotopes. Fischbach reviews existing data and presents new results pointing to a solar and/or cosmic influence on nuclear decays. Fischbach will briefly discuss the relevance of these results in predicting solar storms, recent claims of detecting dark matter by the DAMA collaboration, and neutrino mass determinations.