Estimating Relative Uncertainty of Radiative Transition Rates

Atoms

Daniel E. Kelleher¹  Alexander Kramida¹  Per Jönsson¹ 

[1] Atomic Spectroscopy Group, Quantum Measurements Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology (ret.); Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8422, USA; E-Mail

关键词: line strengths;    normalized;    relative uncertainty;    transition probabilities;   

DOI  :  10.3390/atoms2040382

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

We consider a method to estimate relative uncertainties of radiative transition rates in an atomic spectrum. Few of these many transitions have had their rates determined by more than two reference-quality sources. One could estimate uncertainties for each transition, but analyses with only one degree of freedom are generally fraught with difficulties. We pursue a way to empirically combine the limited uncertainty information in each of the many transitions. We “pool” a dimensionless measure of relative dispersion, the “Coefficient of Variation of the mean,” s (e.g. 95%). We take this curve to represent the expanded relative uncertainty of the mean. The method is most advantageous when the number of determined transition rates is large while the number of independent determinations per transition is small. The transition rate data of Na III serves as an example.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.