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In the modern weak charged current interpretation, one allowed assignment isThe electron antineutrino, tau neutrino, muon neutrino and antineutrino of the tau neutrino carry away energy and momentum. There are four undetected particles in this decay assignment. Interchanging which parent decays electronically gives the opposite electric charge assignment. Each parent conserves electric charge and, in this approximation, total lepton number; four-momentum conservation applies separately to production and to each particle decay.

If $B_e$ and $B_{\mu }$ denote the corresponding branching fractions, independent parent decays give an inclusive mixed-flavour fraction $2B_e{B}_{\mu }$. The factor two counts the two assignments to opposite parent charges. For chosen $B_e=B_{\mu }=1/5$, the mixed fraction is $2/25$, before acceptance and detection efficiency. Correlations between the parents' spins can affect angular selection even when the fully inclusive branching fractions factorize.

The neutrinos in that equation are a physical interpretation to test. Neither a deficit in visible energy nor two unusual tracks alone establishes their identities or uniquely counts them. Even a compatible invariant mass and an angular distribution require particle identification, background checks and agreement across further particle decay channels. The direct detection milestone for the tau neutrino was in 2000, separate from the charged tau lepton discovery.

Tritium is the hydrogen isotope ${}_1^3\mathrm{H}$: its nucleus contains one proton and two neutrons. It undergoes beta decay to helium-3, emitting an electron and an electron antineutrino:This equation uses nuclear notation: the mass number stays3, while electric charge is conserved because the daughter nucleus has charge $+2e$ and the emitted electron has charge $-e$. The half-life is approximately12.3years.^[ref]

A motivating measurement is a long series of activity comparisons. A 2000 study calibrated tritiated-water standards with internal gas-proportional counting and liquid-scintillation intercomparisons. Activity data for one standard extending over38years gave a half-life of $(4504\pm 9)$ days, with the stated uncertainty one standard deviation. This is that study's measured result, rather than an assertion that every evaluation uses precisely the same value.^[ref]

For a closed sample with no added tritium, radioactive decay gives $N(t)=N_0{2}^{-t/t_{1/2}}$. After two half-lives, one quarter of the original tritium nuclei remain. The lost parent nuclei have become daughter nuclei; a smaller tritium activity does not mean the sample has lost the same fraction of its total atoms.