While studying the Gamma ray spectroscopy for calculating Activity concentration I came across this term, but I don't know what it means.
To quote
www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/docs1/00326396.pdf
"The fraction of decays that is accompanied by the emission of a specific energy gamma ray is called the branching intensity.
For example, the most intense gamma ray emitted by 235Uhas an energy of 185.7 keV and a branching intensity of 54%. Uranium-235 decays by alpha-particle emission with a half-life of 7.038 x 108 yr.
Only 54% of the alpha particles are accompanied by a 185.7-keV gamma ray; therefore, the specific activity of this gamma ray is 4.3 x 104/g-s."
Hope that helps
A little more on the topic might help as well. Many radionuclides can undergo multiple decays or can emit multiple energies of radiation. The fraction of the time that a nuclide undergoes a specific decay mode is the branching ratio. For example, potassium-40 (K-40) will decay via beta emission 89% of the time and emits a gamma the other 11% of the time. So the branching ratio of K-40 beta decay is 89%.
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