Observation of the negative muonium ion in vacuum

Miscellaneous · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5026271

Kuang, Yunan

The negative muonium ion (M{sup {minus}}), which is the bound system of a positive muon and two electrons, has been produced and observed for the first time (Arn86,Har86,Kua87). Its counterpart H{sup {minus}} is well known, and spectroscopy and collision studies with H{sup {minus}} have yielded many fruitful results. Noteworthy are recent investigations of the photoionization of a relativistic H{sup {minus}} beam (Bry81). The negative positronium ion has also been formed and observed (Mil81b). The discovery of M{sup {minus}} provides us with a new leptonic system for spectroscopy and collision studies, which may reveal interesting physics associated with mass effects. Since M{sup {minus}} is a charged particle, it can also be used to produce a beam of exotic atoms with a small phase space. This dissertation is a detailed account of the observation of M{sup {minus}}. The experiment was conducted at LAMPF, utilizing a subsurface {mu}{sup +} beam (Bad85) and the beam-foil technique. When a {mu}{sup +} beam of about 10 MeV/c momentum passes through a thin foil, the outgoing species are {mu}{sup +}, M, and M{sup {minus}} due to charge exchange of {mu}{sup +} with the foil material. In the experiment, the M{sup {minus}} ions were accelerated electrostatically to about 20 keV. In addition, the low energy positive muons of up to 20 keV kinetic energies coming out of the foils were investigated. The results provide information on the energy distribution and the angular distribution of the emerging {mu}{sup +} beam. A Monte Carlo scheme of simulating the energy loss, the multiple scattering, and the charge equilibrium states and of computing the time-of-flight has been developed. The results are compared with experimental data and good agreements are found. The Monte Carlo code can thus be used to predict results of future beam-foil experiments.

• Research Organization: Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5026271
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
MUONIUM
PRODUCTION
ALUMINIUM
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
ANIONS
BERYLLIUM
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELECTRONS
ENERGY LOSSES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GOLD
HADRONIC ATOMS
ION SPECTROSCOPY
MAGNETIC SPECTROMETERS
MASS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
MUON BEAMS
MUONS
MUONS PLUS
PHASE SPACE
PHOTOIONIZATION
POSITRONIUM
SCATTERING
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD
USES
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ANTILEPTONS
ANTIMATTER
ANTIPARTICLES
ATOMS
BEAMS
CHARGED PARTICLES
DATA
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
EVALUATION
FERMIONS
INFORMATION
IONIZATION
IONS
LEPTON BEAMS
LEPTONS
LOSSES
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
MATTER
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
NUMERICAL DATA
PARTICLE BEAMS
RADIATION DETECTORS
SPACE
SPECTROMETERS
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
640303* - Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics- Positronium
Muonium
& Muonic & Mesic Atoms & Molecules