Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) is essential for creating chronologies to study the timings and drivers of pivotal events in human history and the Earth system over the past 55,000 years. It is also a fundamental proxy for investigating solar processes, including the potential of the Sun for extreme activity. Until now, fluctuations in past atmospheric ¹⁴C levels have limited the dating precision possible using radiocarbon. However, the discovery of solar super-storms known as extreme solar particle events (ESPEs) has driven a series of advances with the potential to transform the calendar-age precision of radiocarbon dating. Organic materials containing unique ¹⁴C ESPE signatures can now be dated to annual precision. In parallel, the search for further storms using high-precision annual ¹⁴C measurements has revealed fine-scaled variations that can be used to improve calendar-age precision, even in periods that lack ESPEs. Furthermore, the newly identified ¹⁴C fluctuations provide unprecedented insight into solar variability and the carbon cycle. Here, we review the current state of knowledge and share our insights into these rapidly developing, diverse research fields. We identify links between radiocarbon, archaeology, solar physics and Earth science to stimulate transdisciplinary collaboration, and we propose how researchers can take advantage of these recent developments.

放射性碳 ( ¹⁴ C) 对于创建年表来研究过去 55,000 年来人类历史和地球系统中关键事件的发生时间和驱动因素至关重要。它也是研究太阳过程的基本指标，包括太阳极端活动的潜力。到目前为止，过去大气¹⁴ C 水平的波动限制了使用放射性碳测年的精度。然而，被称为极端太阳粒子事件（ESPE）的太阳超级风暴的发现推动了一系列进展，有可能改变放射性碳测年的日历年龄精度。含有独特¹⁴ C ESPE 签名的有机材料现在可以按年精度进行测定。与此同时，使用高精度年度¹⁴ C 测量来寻找更多风暴已经揭示了精细尺度的变化，这些变化可用于提高日历年龄的精度，即使在缺乏 ESPE 的时期也是如此。此外，新发现的¹⁴ C 波动为太阳变化和碳循环提供了前所未有的见解。在这里，我们回顾了当前的知识状况，并分享了我们对这些快速发展、多样化的研究领域的见解。我们确定了放射性碳、考古学、太阳物理学和地球科学之间的联系，以促进跨学科合作，并提出研究人员如何利用这些最新进展的建议。