Search for mixing of muonium and antimuonium

Journal Article · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.41.2709· OSTI ID:6768285

Huber, T M; Kunselman, A R ^[1]; Janissen, A C; Beer, G A; Mason, G R; Olin, A ^[2]; Bowen, T; Halverson, P G ^[3]; Fry, C A ^[4]; Kendall, K R; Marshall, G M ^[5]; Heinrich, B; Myrtle, K ^[6]; Warren, J B ^[7]

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1. University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071 (USA)
2. University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2 (CA)
3. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (USA)
4. University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (USA)
5. TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 2A3 (CA)
6. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6 (CA)
7. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1W5 (CA)

A search is described for mixing of muonium ({mu}{sup +}{ital e}{sup {minus}}) and antimuonium ({mu}{sup {minus}}{ital e}{sup +}). Thermal muonium was produced by stopping muons in a SiO{sub 2} powder target. As a conversion signature, a {mu}{sup {minus}} from antimuonium would create {sup 184}Ta in an adjacent tungsten foil. The surface layer of the sample was chemically extracted and counted in a low-background germanium spectrometer; no conversion events were observed. The resulting upper limit on the probability that a muonium atom spontaneously converts to antimuonium is 2.1{times}10{sup {minus}6} (90% confidence). This corresponds to a limit of 0.29{ital G}{sub {ital F}} on the effective four-fermion coupling constant between muonium and antimuonium.

• OSTI ID: 6768285
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA) Vol. 41:9; ISSN PRVDA; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640303 -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Positronium
Muonium
& Muonic & Mesic Atoms & Molecules
645203* -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Interactions & Properties-Theoretical-- Weak Interactions & Properties
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ACCELERATORS
ANTILEPTONS
ANTIMATTER
ANTIPARTICLES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
COUPLING CONSTANTS
CYCLIC ACCELERATORS
CYCLOTRONS
DECAY
EIGENSTATES
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
HAMILTONIANS
HEAVY NUCLEI
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ISOCHRONOUS CYCLOTRONS
ISOTOPES
LEPTONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS
MATRIX ELEMENTS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MUONIUM
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PARTICLE MODELS
POSITRONS
PROBABILITY
QUANTUM OPERATORS
RADIOISOTOPES
SPECTROMETERS
STANDARD MODEL
TANTALUM 184
TANTALUM ISOTOPES
TRIUMF CYCLOTRON
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS