Wavelet Analysis of the New Solar Neutrino Capture Rate Data for the Homestake Experiment

Abstract

Wavelet analysis offers an alternative to Fourier based time-series analysis and is particularly useful when spectral features are time dependent. We analyze the solar neutrino capture rate of the radiochemical Homestake chlorine experiment with abbreviated Morlet wavelets, using Foster's (AJ, 111, 1709 (1996)) rescaled wavelet technique. We emphasize the complementarity of wavelet analysis to Fourier analysis. The Homestake data seem to contain a harmonic content with periodicities of 4.76 yr, 1.89 yr, 0.85 yr, and 0.51 yr. Wavelet analysis reveals that the 4.76 yr and 1.89 yr periods show an almost constant behavior over the 25 yr Homestake data record, while the 0.85 yr and 0.51 yr periods exhibit a transient phenomenon. The analysis does not show strong evidence for a period of the solar 11 yr cycle.