skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Precision measurement of the rate of nuclear muon capture in the muonic hydrogen atom and the determination of the pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon

Journal Article · · Physics of Atomic Nuclei
 [1]
  1. Russian Academy of Sciences, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (Russian Federation)

The rate {Lambda}{sub S} of nuclear muon capture by a proton from the hyperfine singlet ground state of the {mu}p atom has been measured using a new experimental method based on a time-projection chamber operating in an ultrapure hydrogen gas at a pressure of 10 atm. The capture rate has been determined from the difference between the measured lifetime of the negative muon in hydrogen and the world average lifetime of the positive muon. The analysis of 10% of the collected statistics (2 x 10{sup 10}) of {mu}e decays yields the muon capture rate {Lambda}{sub S} = 725.0 {+-} 17.4 s{sup -1}, from which the pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon, g{sub P}(q{sub c}{sup 2} = -0.88m{sub {mu}}{sup 2}) = 7.3 {+-} 1.1, is determined. The further analysis of the collected experimental data should improve the precision of this measurement by a factor of 3.

OSTI ID:
21406041
Journal Information:
Physics of Atomic Nuclei, Vol. 72, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1134/S1063778809010153; Copyright (c) 2009 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.; ISSN 1063-7788
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English