Parameters of a Radiocarbon Installation

Abstract

I aim to define instrumental parameters of a radiocarbon laboratory installation whereby one can estimate its precision and a maximum age up to which its measuring results are reliable. The commonly accepted factor of merit (FM) relates the precision of measurement to Poisson statistics. Unlike the FM, the proposed parameters show the extent to which a 14C laboratory is affected by destabilizing factors that could cause additional measurement errors. Assuming that all destabilizing factors produce either a change in counting efficiency or additional fluctuations of the background counting rate, I have derived two parameters for consideration.