Its "relative" and not absolute
But not normalized. Relative does not mean normalized.
absorptance and absorbance are different grammatical forms of the same thing.
No they each nave their own definition. They probably have their own Wikipedia page.
Absorptance has many meanings depending on which discipline it is used in.
You must have missed the post on CI
Notice the very top line. In general absorptance is a utilized or effective absorbance. Like action.
Not that I totally agree with writers of that post. I think I understand what they mean. What they say is not all that technically correct.
The Daughtry and Walthall paper only talks about absorptance.
When I read the Daughtry and Walthall some time ago my interpretation was it was mostly about reflectance and how to identify illegal cannabis grows from the sky. I did not take the time to figure why they brought McCree into their argument. Reflectance chromaticity is how to identify the color of a cannabis leaf.
McCree was trying to standardize the term PAR. What wavelengths do plants use and how the energy of photons fits into PAR. So after finding what wavelengths were absorbed then he looked at of the absorbed photons, how many were utilized. Not sure, I think he used CO2 utilization rather than oxygen evolution. Photons are mostly used to oxidize water and secondly to reduce carbon dioxide to other organic molecules.
The whole point to McCree's absorptance is to see if the energy of the photon had a significant effect on utilization (action). It did not and that is why we use quantum (moles) measurements instead of radiometric (watts) to assess spectral photosynthesis utilization.
Absorptance is calculated relative to the absorption of photons. It removes the number of photons absorbed at each wavelength from the equation. The charlatan grow light vendors like to use the relative yield to support their spectrum, but it is not a valid use of quantum yield as the percentage of absorbed photons at each wavelength has been eliminated.
A lot more research has been done on absorbance and action since McCree. McCree still holds up but more is now known. Subsequent studies have refined McCree's findings by including more "actions" their analysis.
Most of what I have posted in this thread I have fact checked with the well respected text book Plant Physiology and Development. I am an electrical engineer and have no formal training in plant physiology, biochemistry, or molecular biology. I do have a son-in-law (Dr. Thomas Colquhoun) and I regularly ask him questions regarding these sorts of things. He also refers me to textbooks for further information. Thomas also teaches plant biotechnology and is a research professor that heads LED horticulture research at the University of Florida.
For the past few years I have been building grow light fixtures for his research. I also live in a house owned by him.
For the past few years my area of interest has been the efficiency of grow lighting and thermal dynamics. I do not like to tell people how smart I am, so instead, I try to sneak into the conversation that my daughter graduated from Harvard Law School at the age of 23. While attending Harvard she also taught freshman Economics there. She met Thomas while getting her degree in Economics at UF.
I have no commercial interest in grow lighting, it is just a hobby. I know I am a weird mother fucker and I am quite content in that I am not normal. I can't even imagine how awful that must be to be normal. I often say to others if you're trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be. Overcome the notion that you have to be normal. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary.
I am pretty fucked up right now so the above may not meet the scrutiny of my RolliTup trolls, I am only trying to help. Sometimes it is better to listen to what I mean than what I say.