pandemonium effect

English

Proper noun

the pandemonium effect

1. (physics) A problem that leads to inaccurate results from high-resolution gamma ray detectors in cases of beta decay when the decay product has a large Q value because the decay product has too many possible energy excitation levels with too much variation in the amount of energy emitted by different levels.
   • 2012, Amir Mesquita, Nuclear Reactors, page 78:

     If we have a beta decay that suffers from the pandemonium effect, the mean gamma energies will be underestimated and the beta energies will be overestimated.

   • 2014, Juha Äystö, Tommi Eronen, Ari Jokinen, IGISOL, page 247:

     The pandemonium effect obviously has major consequences for decay heat calculations.