Use of intermediate coupling relationships to test measured branching fraction data

The extensive arc emission measurements of transition probabilities by Corliss and Bozman are known to contain errors due to flaws in the determination of level populations in the source. However, if no similar errors were present in the photometric calibration, then branching fractions from the same upper level deduced from these measurements should be valid. It is shown that the branching fractions for the transitions in Si I, Ge I, Sn I and Pb I can be accurately estimated using intermediate coupling amplitudes obtained from spectroscopic data, and thus provide a test of the validity of these measurements. The results of Corliss and Bozman are examined in the context of comparisons with these estimated values and with other measurements, and it is demonstrated that branching fractions from the same upper level obtained from these data can be quite reliable.