Ambient humidity, the overlooked influencer of radioactivity measurements

Stefaan Pommé; Heike Stroh; Timotheos Altzitzoglou; Jan Paepen; Raf Van Ammel; Maria Marouli; Leen Verheyen; M. Unterweger; Ryan P. Fitzgerald; Dennis E. Bergeron; L. Pibida; Ole Nähle; Karsten Kossert; Natasha C. Ramirez; Emma Bendall; Andrew J. Fenwick; Kelley M. Ferreira; John D. Keightley; M. Baker; Sean S. Collins; Carine Michotte; Sammy Courte; Romain M. Coulon; Timothy W. Jackson; Winifred M. van Wyngaardt; Aldo Fazio; Pierino De Felice; Branko Vodenik; Matjaž Korun; Frederic Juget; Claude J. Bailat; Youcef Nedjadi; François Bochud; Thierry Buchillier; Timothy Roy; Raphael Galea; Ivan Kajan; Milton W.V. Van Rooy; P. McGinnity; I. Tucakovic; Iolanda Osvath; Krzysztof Pelczar

doi:10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f

Ambient humidity, the overlooked influencer of radioactivity measurements

Stefaan Pommé, Heike Stroh, Timotheos Altzitzoglou, Jan Paepen, Raf Van Ammel, Maria Marouli, Leen Verheyen, M. Unterweger, Ryan P. Fitzgerald, Dennis E. Bergeron, L. Pibida, Ole Nähle, Karsten Kossert, Natasha C. Ramirez, Emma Bendall, Andrew J. Fenwick, Kelley M. Ferreira, John D. Keightley, M. Baker, Sean S. CollinsCarine Michotte, Sammy Courte, Romain M. Coulon, Timothy W. Jackson, Winifred M. van Wyngaardt, Aldo Fazio, Pierino De Felice, Branko Vodenik, Matjaž Korun, Frederic Juget, Claude J. Bailat, Youcef Nedjadi, François Bochud, Thierry Buchillier, Timothy Roy, Raphael Galea, Ivan Kajan, Milton W.V. Van Rooy, P. McGinnity, I. Tucakovic, Iolanda Osvath, Krzysztof Pelczar

Research output › peer-review

Abstract

When verifying the validity of the exponential-decay law through 137 precise decay rate measurement series at various nuclear laboratories, minor violations have been observed in the shape of annual cycles in the residuals with different amplitudes and phase shifts. The timing and amplitude of these deviations have been compared with local weather data and it appears that ambient humidity is highly correlated with the observed instabilities in these radioactivity measurements. In fact, when compensating the residuals for a linear relationship with absolute humidity in air, most of the annual cycles are no longer statistically significant. As a result, the validity of the exponential-decay law can now be demonstrated with even higher fidelity.

Original language	English
Article number	015001
Journal	Metrologia
Volume	61
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f
State	Published - 2 Feb 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Engineering

Access to Document

10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f

Cite this

Pommé, S., Stroh, H., Altzitzoglou, T., Paepen, J., Van Ammel, R., Marouli, M., Verheyen, L., Unterweger, M., Fitzgerald, R. P., Bergeron, D. E., Pibida, L., Nähle, O., Kossert, K., Ramirez, N. C., Bendall, E., Fenwick, A. J., Ferreira, K. M., Keightley, J. D., Baker, M., ... Pelczar, K. (2024). Ambient humidity, the overlooked influencer of radioactivity measurements. Metrologia, 61(1), Article 015001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f

@article{14abffd0dedd42b5b84647c0d64e49ef,

title = "Ambient humidity, the overlooked influencer of radioactivity measurements",

abstract = "When verifying the validity of the exponential-decay law through 137 precise decay rate measurement series at various nuclear laboratories, minor violations have been observed in the shape of annual cycles in the residuals with different amplitudes and phase shifts. The timing and amplitude of these deviations have been compared with local weather data and it appears that ambient humidity is highly correlated with the observed instabilities in these radioactivity measurements. In fact, when compensating the residuals for a linear relationship with absolute humidity in air, most of the annual cycles are no longer statistically significant. As a result, the validity of the exponential-decay law can now be demonstrated with even higher fidelity.",

keywords = "Dark matter, Exponential-decay law, Humidity, Radioactivity, Solar neutrino",

author = "Stefaan Pomm{\'e} and Heike Stroh and Timotheos Altzitzoglou and Jan Paepen and {Van Ammel}, Raf and Maria Marouli and Leen Verheyen and M. Unterweger and Fitzgerald, {Ryan P.} and Bergeron, {Dennis E.} and L. Pibida and Ole N{\"a}hle and Karsten Kossert and Ramirez, {Natasha C.} and Emma Bendall and Fenwick, {Andrew J.} and Ferreira, {Kelley M.} and Keightley, {John D.} and M. Baker and Collins, {Sean S.} and Carine Michotte and Sammy Courte and Coulon, {Romain M.} and Jackson, {Timothy W.} and {van Wyngaardt}, {Winifred M.} and Aldo Fazio and {De Felice}, Pierino and Branko Vodenik and Matja{\v z} Korun and Frederic Juget and Bailat, {Claude J.} and Youcef Nedjadi and Fran{\c c}ois Bochud and Thierry Buchillier and Timothy Roy and Raphael Galea and Ivan Kajan and {Van Rooy}, {Milton W.V.} and P. McGinnity and I. Tucakovic and Iolanda Osvath and Krzysztof Pelczar",

note = "Score=10 Funding Information: This work has been presented at the 23rd International Conference on Radionuclide Metrology and its Applications in Bucharest, Romania in 2023. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s). Published on behalf of BIPM by IOP Publishing Ltd.",

year = "2024",

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day = "2",

doi = "10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f",

language = "English",

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journal = "Metrologia",

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Pommé, S, Stroh, H, Altzitzoglou, T, Paepen, J, Van Ammel, R, Marouli, M, Verheyen, L, Unterweger, M, Fitzgerald, RP, Bergeron, DE, Pibida, L, Nähle, O, Kossert, K, Ramirez, NC, Bendall, E, Fenwick, AJ, Ferreira, KM, Keightley, JD, Baker, M, Collins, SS, Michotte, C, Courte, S, Coulon, RM, Jackson, TW, van Wyngaardt, WM, Fazio, A, De Felice, P, Vodenik, B, Korun, M, Juget, F, Bailat, CJ, Nedjadi, Y, Bochud, F, Buchillier, T, Roy, T, Galea, R, Kajan, I, Van Rooy, MWV, McGinnity, P, Tucakovic, I, Osvath, I & Pelczar, K 2024, 'Ambient humidity, the overlooked influencer of radioactivity measurements', Metrologia, vol. 61, no. 1, 015001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f

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T1 - Ambient humidity, the overlooked influencer of radioactivity measurements

AU - Pommé, Stefaan

AU - Stroh, Heike

AU - Altzitzoglou, Timotheos

AU - Paepen, Jan

AU - Van Ammel, Raf

AU - Marouli, Maria

AU - Verheyen, Leen

AU - Unterweger, M.

AU - Fitzgerald, Ryan P.

AU - Bergeron, Dennis E.

AU - Pibida, L.

AU - Nähle, Ole

AU - Kossert, Karsten

AU - Ramirez, Natasha C.

AU - Bendall, Emma

AU - Fenwick, Andrew J.

AU - Ferreira, Kelley M.

AU - Keightley, John D.

AU - Baker, M.

AU - Collins, Sean S.

AU - Michotte, Carine

AU - Courte, Sammy

AU - Coulon, Romain M.

AU - Jackson, Timothy W.

AU - van Wyngaardt, Winifred M.

AU - Fazio, Aldo

AU - De Felice, Pierino

AU - Vodenik, Branko

AU - Korun, Matjaž

AU - Juget, Frederic

AU - Bailat, Claude J.

AU - Nedjadi, Youcef

AU - Bochud, François

AU - Buchillier, Thierry

AU - Roy, Timothy

AU - Galea, Raphael

AU - Kajan, Ivan

AU - Van Rooy, Milton W.V.

AU - McGinnity, P.

AU - Tucakovic, I.

AU - Osvath, Iolanda

AU - Pelczar, Krzysztof

N1 - Score=10 Funding Information: This work has been presented at the 23rd International Conference on Radionuclide Metrology and its Applications in Bucharest, Romania in 2023. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published on behalf of BIPM by IOP Publishing Ltd.

PY - 2024/2/2

Y1 - 2024/2/2

N2 - When verifying the validity of the exponential-decay law through 137 precise decay rate measurement series at various nuclear laboratories, minor violations have been observed in the shape of annual cycles in the residuals with different amplitudes and phase shifts. The timing and amplitude of these deviations have been compared with local weather data and it appears that ambient humidity is highly correlated with the observed instabilities in these radioactivity measurements. In fact, when compensating the residuals for a linear relationship with absolute humidity in air, most of the annual cycles are no longer statistically significant. As a result, the validity of the exponential-decay law can now be demonstrated with even higher fidelity.

AB - When verifying the validity of the exponential-decay law through 137 precise decay rate measurement series at various nuclear laboratories, minor violations have been observed in the shape of annual cycles in the residuals with different amplitudes and phase shifts. The timing and amplitude of these deviations have been compared with local weather data and it appears that ambient humidity is highly correlated with the observed instabilities in these radioactivity measurements. In fact, when compensating the residuals for a linear relationship with absolute humidity in air, most of the annual cycles are no longer statistically significant. As a result, the validity of the exponential-decay law can now be demonstrated with even higher fidelity.

KW - Dark matter

KW - Exponential-decay law

KW - Humidity

KW - Radioactivity

KW - Solar neutrino

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U2 - 10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f

DO - 10.1088/1681-7575/ad0c9f

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85179181749

SN - 0026-1394

VL - 61

JO - Metrologia

JF - Metrologia

IS - 1

M1 - 015001

ER -