By Tallbloke

Congratulations to Nicola Scafetta, who has just published another major paper on the relationship between planetary cycles and solar activity variation. This new paper explores a viable physical mechanism which potentially explains the now well known correlations the solar-planetary community has been discovering and documenting here at the Talkshop and elsewhere on the net (see the blog roll). Nicola has been successful in drawing together several of these discoveries and underpinning them with a coherent physical theory. Bravo Nicola! A landmark moment in the development of knowledge about our solar system. I’ll keep this post at the top of the blog while discussion develops.

Does the Sun work as a nuclear fusion amplifier of planetary tidal forcing? A proposal for a physical mechanism based on the mass-luminosity relation.

Nicola Scafetta, 2012
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 81–82, 27–40

Abstract

Numerous empirical evidences suggest that planetary tides may influence solar activity. In particular, it has been shown that: (1) the well-known 11-year Schwabe sunspot number cycle is constrained between the spring tidal period of Jupiter and Saturn, 9.93 year, and the tidal orbital period of Jupiter, 11.86 year, and a model based on these cycles can reconstruct solar dynamics at multiple time scales (Scafetta, in press); (2) a measure of the alignment of Venus, Earth and Jupiter reveals quasi 11.07-year cycles that are well correlated to the 11-year Schwabe solar cycles; and (3) there exists a 11.08 year cyclical recurrence in the solar jerk-shock vector, which is induced mostly by Mercury and Venus. However, Newtonian classical physics has failed to explain the phenomenon. Only by means of a significant nuclear fusion amplification of the tidal gravitational potential energy dissipated in the Sun, may planetary tides produce irradiance output oscillations with a sufficient magnitude to influence solar dynamo processes. Here we explain how a first order magnification factor can be roughly calculated using an adaptation of the well-known mass-luminosity relation for main-sequence stars similar to the Sun. This strategy yields a conversion factor between the solar luminosity and the potential gravitational power associated to the mass lost by nuclear fusion: the average estimated amplification factor is A=4.25×10^6. We use this magnification factor to evaluate the theoretical luminosity oscillations that planetary tides may potentially stimulate inside the solar core by making its nuclear fusion rate oscillate. By converting the power related to this energy into solar irradiance units at 1 AU we find that the tidal oscillations may be able to theoretically induce an oscillating luminosity increase from 0.05 - 0.65 W/m2 to 0.25 - 1.63 W/m2, which is a range compatible with the ACRIM satellite observed total solar irradiance fluctuations. In conclusion, the Sun, by means of its nuclear active core, may be working as a great amplifier of the small planetary tidal energy dissipated in it. The amplified signal should be sufficiently energetic to synchronize solar dynamics with the planetary frequencies and activate internal resonance mechanisms, which then generate and interfere with the solar dynamo cycle to shape solar dynamics, as further explained in Scafetta (in press). A section is devoted to explain how the traditional objections to the planetary theory of solar variation can be rebutted.

Enlarged.

Enlarged

From the conclusion:

The tidal movement consistently and continuously squeezes and stretches the entire Sun from the center to the surface. The solar mass can be moved and mixed by
gravitational tidal forces also because of the fluid nature of the solar plasma. However, even in this case only a tiny fraction of the gravitational tidal energy can be released as heat to the Sun (see Eq. (18)), and nothing would be expected to happen if only released tidal gravitational energy is involved in the process, as Newtonian classical physics would predict.  However, a planetary tidal massaging of the solar core should continuously release additional heat to it and also favor plasma fuel mixing. Consequently, the Sun’s nuclear fusion rate should be slightly increased by tidal work and should oscillate with the tidal oscillations. In Section 3.3 we have proposed a methodology to evaluate a nuclear amplification function (Eq. (32)) to convert the gravitational potential power released in the core by tidal work into solar luminosity. The strategy is based on the fact that nuclear fusion inside a solar core is kept active by gravitational forces that continuously compress the core and very slowly release additional gravitational energy to it, as the hydrogen fuses into helium. Without gravitational work, no fusion activity would occur either because the two phenomena are strongly coupled (Carroll and Ostlie, 2007).

The preliminary results of this paper suggest that for better understanding solar activity, the physical interaction between the planets and the Sun cannot be dismissed, as done until now. Future research should better address the nature of these couplings, which could also be used to better forecast solar activity and climate change (Scafetta, 2010, in press). In fact, planetary dynamics can be rigorously predicted.

The full paper is available here.

Closely related papers:

Be sure to visit Nicola Scafetta’s website, where papers and a summary of his work are presented.

Scafetta N., 2012. Multi-scale harmonic model for solar and climate cyclical variation throughout the Holocene based on Jupiter - Saturn tidal frequencies plus the 11-year solar dynamo cycle. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 80, 296 - 311. 

Tallbloke Scafetta jstides files

Scafetta N., 2012. Testing an astronomically based decadal-scale empirical harmonic climate model versus the IPCC (2007) general circulation climate models. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 80, 124 - 137.

Scafetta N., 2012. A shared frequency set between the historical mid-latitude aurora records and the global surface temperature. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 74, 145 - 163.

Scafetta N., 2010. Empirical evidence for a celestial origin of the climate oscillations and its implications Original Research Article, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 72, 951 - 970.

Scafetta N., 2009. Empirical analysis of the solar contribution to global mean air surface temperature change Original Research Article, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 71, 1916 - 1923.