Present status of. mu. CF theory
Most of these steps of the catalysis cycle for a dt target are very fast and therefore do not contribute significantly to the cycling time. Energy loss of the free muon is due to electron ejection from target hydrogen molecules, as is most of the deexcitation of the newly-formed muonic atom. This can be either t{mu} or d{mu}; if the latter, the muon can transfer to a t during the deexcitation cascade, since the greater reduced mass means stronger binding for the same n. The {mu}{sup {minus}} then is in either the d{mu} or t{mu} ground state; the waiting time in these states dominate the cycling time. Ground-state transfer from d{mu} to t{mu} is comparatively slow, as is the next step, resonant molecular formation. Once the dt{mu} mesomolecule'' is formed (in the loosely-bound J = 1, {nu} = 1 state), deexcitation to J = 0 via an Auger process and subsequent fusion are very rapid. Because of the large recoil velocity of the {alpha} liberated in the fusion reaction d + t {yields} n + {alpha}, the {mu}{sup {minus}} is usually freed to go around the cycle again. We now discuss these steps in detail.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/ER
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 6980877
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-90-370; CONF-8911172-1; ON: DE90007547; TRN: 90-008182
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Symposium on muon catalyzed fusion phenomena, Tokyo (Japan), 2-4 Nov 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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