A reply to the rebuttal by Sturrock et al.

Abstract

Sturrock et al. have published a "rebuttal" to a paper by Pommé et al. who refuted their claim that variations in a radon decay experiment at the Geological Survey of Israel (GSI) can be associated with solar rotation. Sturrock et al. misinterpret the variability of the decay rates in the gamma counter to assert influences by solar and cosmic neutrinos on beta decay and draw unsubstantiated conclusions about solar dynamics. Evidence suggests that the radon measurements were susceptible to solar irradiance and rainfall, whereas there is no indication that radioactive decay is influenced by the solar neutrino flux. In this reply to the rebuttal, the arguments raised by Sturrock et al. are scrutinised.