Pandemonium effect

Schematic showing how the pandemonium effect can affect the results in an imaginary decay to a nucleus that has 3 levels. If this effect is large, feeding to high-lying levels is not detected, and more beta feeding is assigned to the low-lying energy levels.

The pandemonium effect is a problem that may appear when high-resolution detectors (usually germanium semiconductor detectors) are used in beta decay studies. It can affect the correct determination of the feeding to the different levels of the daughter nucleus. It was first introduced in 1977.[1]

  1. ^ Hardy, J. C.; Carraz, L. C.; Jonson, B.; Hansen, P. G. (November 1977). "The essential decay of pandemonium: A demonstration of errors in complex beta-decay schemes". Physics Letters B. 71 (2): 307–310. Bibcode:1977PhLB...71..307H. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(77)90223-4. ISSN 0370-2693.