Commissioning of a Replication Experiment to Investigate Claims of Beta-Decay Rate Fluctuations Correlated with Solar Proximity and Solar Activity

Exponential decay is considered an immutable feature of radioactivity. While quantum mechanics predicts departure from exponential decay, it does so only in extreme time regimes for measurements; (1) comparable to the coherence time for the decay ($\le $10$^{-20}$s) [1] or (2) much longer than the half-life ($\ge $100t$_{1/2})$ [2]. Yet, from 2009, a number of studies have presented evidence to suggest [3] or refute [4] departures from exponential decay during the intermediate regime. If true, this would be evidence of new physics. To this end, the authors of [3] have presented evidence that beta-decays slightly (0.1{\%}) but significantly accelerate with increasing proximity to and activity of the Sun and that this may be evidence of novel neutrino-nucleus interactions. Here, we present six dedicated counting experiments aimed at replicating and improving upon the approaches used in [3]. Each experiment is commissioned in a shielded, climate-controlled setting, with continuous temperature, pressure and humidity recording. Multiple detection schemes also provide additional experimental controls, relative to previous studies, against false positives.\\[4pt] [1] C.B. Chiu \textit{et al.}, \textit{PRD} \textbf{16}, 520 (1977).\\[0pt] [2] L.A. Khalfin, \textit{JETP} \textbf{6}, 1053 (1958).\\[0pt] [3] J.H. Jenkins \textit{et al.}, \textit{Astropart. Phys}. \textbf{32}, 42 (2009).\\[0pt] [4] J.C. Hardy\textit{ et al.}, \textit{App. Rad. Iso.} \textbf{70}, 1931 (2012).