The mean lifetime is an important characteristic of particles to be identified in nuclear physics. State-of-the-art particle detectors can identify the arrivals of single radioactive nuclei as well as their subsequent radioactive decays (departures). Challenges arise when the arrivals and departures are unmatched and the departures are only partially observed. An inefficient solution is to run experiments where the arrival rate is set very low to allow for the matching of arrivals and departures. We propose an estimation method that works for a wide range of arrival rates. The method combines an initial estimator and a numerical bias correction technique. Simulations and examples based on data on the alpha decays of Lutetium isotope 155 demonstrate that the method produces unbiased estimates regardless of the arrival rate. As a practical benefit, the estimation method enables the use of all data collected in the particle detector, which will lead to more accurate estimates and, in some cases, to shorter experiments.

中文翻译：

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从核物理学中部分观察到的事件估计平均寿命

平均寿命是核物理中待识别粒子的一个重要特征。最先进的粒子探测器可以识别单个放射性核的到达以及随后的放射性衰变（离开）。当到达和离开不匹配并且仅部分地观察到离开时，就会出现挑战。一个低效的解决方案是运行到达率设置非常低的实验，以允许到达和离开的匹配。我们提出了一种适用于各种到达率的估计方法。该方法结合了初始估计器和数值偏差校正技术。基于镥同位素 155 的 α 衰变数据的模拟和示例表明，无论到达率如何，该方法都能产生无偏估计。作为一个实际的好处，