  Empirical evidences show that planetary tides may influence solar activity:
1) the 11-yr Schwabe sunspot number cycle is constrained between the spring
tidal period of Jupiter and Saturn, 9.93 yr, and the tidal orbital period of
Jupiter, 11.86 yr, and a model based on these cycles reconstructs solar
dynamics at multiple time ; 2) a measure of the alignment of Venus, Earth and
Jupiter reveals quasi 11.07-yr cycles well correlated to the 11-year Schwabe
solar cycles; 3) there exists a 11.08 yr cyclical recurrence in the solar
jerk-shock vector, which is induced mostly by Mercury and Venus. However,
Newtonian classical physics fails to explain the phenomenon. Only by means of a
significant nuclear fusion amplification of the tidal gravitational potential
energy released in the Sun, may planetary tides produce irradiance output
oscillations with a sufficient magnitude to influence solar dynamo processes.
Here we use an adaptation of the well-known mass-luminosity relation to
calculate 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=4,250,000. 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 $W/m^{2}$ to 0.25-1.63
$W/m^{2}$, 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.
