Observed relation between solar luminosity and radius

We compile measurements of the total solar irradiance S_o made in the period 1967 to 1983 from balloons, rockets, and spacecrafts. These data, when corrected for atmospheric and calibration differences, suggest a systematic increase in S_o of about 0.025% per year. In 1979 and after the ACRIM/SMM and the ERB/NIMBUS data reveal a systematic decrease of about the same magnitude. The period of the early apparent increase embraces a full solar activity cycle of 11 years: hence the effect cannot be that of simple sunspot blocking. This trend of a slow increase followed by a similar decrease is compared with solar diameter measurements obtained from daily meridian transit timings of the Sun made during the same period at the Royal Greenwich Observatory and at the U.S. Naval Observatory. We find in both of these data sets an apparent increase in solar diameter of about 0.03″arc per year during the period of increasing solar irradiance and a weaker suggestion of a similar, subsequent decline. If the apparent trends in diameter and luminosity are real they allow us to estimate the empirical relationship between the two quantities. For this period we find W=ΔlogR/ΔlogL=0.078±0.026.