Muon transfer from hydrogen to helium

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Sov. Phys. - JETP (Engl. Transl.); (United States)

OSTI ID:5388541

Bystritskii, V M; Dzhelepov, V P; Petrukhin, V I; Rudenko, A I; Suvorov, V M; Filchenkov, V V; Khovanskii, N N; Khomenko, B A

It is found that ..mu../sup -/ mesons stopped in a gas mixture of hydrogen, helium, and xenon (hydrogen pressure about 20 atmospheres, helium and xenon densities relative to hydrogen 0.05--2 and approx.10/sup -4/ respectively) are transferred from the p..mu.. atoms in the ground state to helium atoms at a rate lambda/sub He/ = (3.6 +- 1.0)x10/sup 8/ sec/sup -1/. The result is in good agreement with the calculations in which a novel mesic-molecular mechanism of p..mu..-atom charge exchange with helium nuclei is taken into account. The dependence of the probability for p..mu..-atom formation in the ground state on the helium density is measured. An analysis of this dependence and a comparison of it with the corresponding data for ..pi../sup -/ mesons indicate that muons can also be transferred from excited levels of p..mu.. atoms at a rate higher than in the case of p..pi.. atoms (transfer constant ..lambda../sub ..mu../ = 3.8 +- 0.3 compared with ..lambda../sub ..pi../ = 1.84 +- 0.09).

• Research Organization: Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
• OSTI ID: 5388541
• Journal Information: Sov. Phys. - JETP (Engl. Transl.); (United States), Journal Name: Sov. Phys. - JETP (Engl. Transl.); (United States) Vol. 57:4; ISSN SPHJA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640303* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Positronium
Muonium
& Muonic & Mesic Atoms & Molecules
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HADRONIC ATOMS
HELIUM
HYDROGEN
MESIC ATOMS
MUONIC ATOMS
NONMETALS
PIONIC ATOMS
PROBABILITY
RARE GASES
SYNTHESIS
XENON