Branching fraction

Sometimes a partial half-life is given, but this term is misleading; due to competing modes, it is not true that half of the particles will decay through a particular decay mode after its partial half-life.

The half-life of this isotope is 6.480 days,[2] which corresponds to a total decay constant of 0.1070 d−1.

Their respective partial half-lives are 6.603 d and 347 d. Isotopes with significant branching of decay modes include copper-64, arsenic-74, rhodium-102, indium-112, iodine-126 and holmium-164.

In the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics, a branching fraction refers to the probability of decay to a specific lower-lying energy states from some excited state.

[3] Further possible decays would split appropriately, with their probabilities summing to 1.

Branching fractions can be measured in a variety of ways, including time-resolved recording of the atom's fluorescence during a series of population transfers in the relevant states.