A new algorithm for estimating radioxenon concentrations.

A new algorithm (Xcounts) is introduced for estimating the activity concentrations of the xenon isotopes Xe, Xe, Xe, and Xe using beta-gamma coincidence data. The algorithm simultaneously estimates the decay counts associated with the four xenon isotopes, background, and radon in contrast to the net-counts method that uses sequential residual removal to account for background and interferences. Calibration data for background counts are determined from gas-background measurements and simulation. In Xcounts, the false positive count rates for Xe and Xe are lower than those for Xe and Xe. This algorithm appears to reliably detect the metastable isotopes at lower activity levels than the net-counts method and have similar performance for the other isotopes.