Abstract
In case of rare decay events the lifetime or the decay width is evaluated with low statistics. The uncertainty has to be carefully evaluated. In this article, we propose a Bayesian analysis of the lifetime and decay width and derive simple formulas for their assigned values and for the limits of the credible interval. The results are applied to the decay of superheavy nuclei as an illustration.
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Data Availability Statement
This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Author’s comment: All formulas and data are provided in the article.]
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dieter Ackermann and Christelle Stodel for their interest in this work and comments.
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Communicated by Jose Benlliure
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Hourdillé, Q., Lallouet, Y. & Boilley, D. Bayesian analysis of the uncertainty in decay lifetimes in the case of poor statistics. Eur. Phys. J. A 57, 162 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-021-00473-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-021-00473-0