Basic equations for age dating through activity ratio measurements are presented and applied to nuclear chronometers based on parent-daughter decay. Uncertainty propagation formulae are derived which relate the relative uncertainty on the half-lives and measured activity ratios with the relative uncertainty on the calculated time of a nuclear event. Particular attention is paid to the case of relatively short-lived radionuclides for which the change in decay rate during the measurement is non-negligible. Mathematical solutions are presented to correct the perceived activity ratio and adapt the uncertainty propagation formulae to complete the uncertainty budget. The formulae have been applied to Ba-La chronometry, which is particularly useful for dating a nuclear explosion through measurement of the produced activity ratio of La andBa in a finite time interval. They were also applied to the Th-Ra parent-daughter pair produced for therapeutic use. The impact of inaccuracies in the nuclear decay data on the performance of these nuclear chronometers is shown and discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.