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Time modulations at per mil level have been reported to take place in the decay constant of several nuclei with period of one year (most cases) but also of about one month or one day. On the other hand, experiments with similar or better sensitivity have been unable to detect any modulation. In this letter we give the results of the activity study of two different sources: 40 K and 226 Ra. The two gamma spectrometry experiments have been performed underground at the Gran Sasso Laboratory, this way suppressing the time dependent cosmic ray background. Briefly, our measurements reached the sensitivity of 3.4 and 3.5 parts over 10 6 for 40 K and 226 Ra, respectively (1 sigma) and they do not show any statistically significant evidence of time dependence in the decay constant. We also give the results of the activity measurement at the time of the two strong X-class solar flares which took place in September 2017. Our data do not show any unexpected time dependence in the decay rate of 40 K in correspondence with the two flares. To the best of our knowledge, these are the most precise and accurate results on the stability of the decay constant as function of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We give the results of a study on the 222 Rn decay we performed in the Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS) by detecting the gamma rays from the radon progeny. The motivation was to monitor the stability of radioactivity measuring several times per year the half-life of a short lifetime (days) source instead of measuring over a long period the activity of a long lifetime (tens or hundreds of years) source. In particular, we give a possible reason of the large periodical fluctuations in the count rate of the gamma rays due to radon inside a closed canister which has been described in literature and which has been attributed to a possible influence of a component in the solar irradiation affecting the nuclear decay rates. We then provide the result of four half-life measurements we performed underground at LNGS in the period from May 2014 to January 2015 with radon diffused into olive oil. Briefly, we did not measure any change of the 222 Rn half-life with a 8 ⋅ 10 − 5 precision. Finally, we provide the most precise value for the 222 Rn half-life: 3.82146 ( 16 ) stat ( 4 ) syst days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time modulations at per mil level have been reported to take place in the decay constant of about 15 nuclei with period of one year (most cases) but also of about one month or one day. In this paper we give the results of the activity measurement of a 40K source and 232Th one. The two experiments have been done at the Gran Sasso Laboratory during a period of about 500 days, above ground (40K) and underground (232Th) with a target sensitivity of a few parts over 105. We also give the results of the activity measurement at the time of the X-class solar flares which took place in May 2013. Briefly, our measurements do not show any evidence of unexpected time dependence in the decay rate of 40K and 232Th. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The decay rate of three different radioactive sources (40K, 137Cs and natTh) has been measured with NaI and Ge detectors. Data have been analyzed to search for possible variations in coincidence with the two strongest solar flares of the years 2011 and 2012. No significant deviations from standard expectation have been observed, with a few 10−4 sensitivity. As a consequence, we could not find any effect like that recently reported by Jenkins and Fischbach: a few per mil decrease in the decay rate of 54Mn during solar flares in December 2006. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Starting from June 2011, the activity of a 137Cs source has been measured by means of a HPGe detector installed deep underground in the Gran Sasso Laboratory. Over 5100 hourly recorded energy spectra have been collected in 217 days. These data allowed the search for time variations of the decay constant with periods from a few hours to 1 year. No signal with amplitude larger than at 95% C.L. has been detected. These limits are more than one order of magnitude lower than the values on the oscillation amplitude reported in literature. In particular, for 1 year period an oscillation amplitude larger than has been excluded at 95% C.L., independently of the phase. The same data give a value of years for the 137Cs half-life, in good agreement with the world mean value of years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two laser interferometers for geophysical researches are operating under the Gran Sasso massif, Central Italy, since several years. Their electro-optical set-up has been recently modified with respect to the original version to reduce costs and improve reliability. Output of each interferometer now consists of two quadrature signals, whose Lissajous figure is inverted for changes in length of the 90-m-long baselines. These top-rank instruments give high-quality strain data, but siting effects produce coupling among the different strain components, so that measured strain is not equal to the large-scale Earth strain. We estimate local effects using reference tidal strains and a matrix representation of the relationship between instrument and remote strains. The three coupling coefficient of each interferometer (obtained by best-fitting) are able to reduce differences between observed and predicted tides down to negligible levels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]