Counting statistics for nonnegligible dead time corrections
Abstract
If a detecting system records N counts in T seconds, with each recorded count followed by a dead time τ, the statistical variation in N is ±N1/2/(1+Rτ) (not just ±N1/2), where R is the true rate of occurrence of events. The value of R inferred from this experiment is subject to a statistical error of ΔR/R=±N1/2. This equation is accurate as long as N1/2/Rτ≫1.
- Publication:
-
Review of Scientific Instruments
- Pub Date:
- June 1976
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.1134733
- Bibcode:
- 1976RScI...47..766L
- Keywords:
-
- 06.20.Dk;
- 29.90.+r;
- Measurement and error theory;
- Other topics in elementary-particle and nuclear physics experimental methods and instrumentation