Nuclear Excitation by Muon Capture

Abstract

Efficient excitation of nuclei via exchange of a real or virtual photon has a fundamental importance for nuclear science and technology development. Here, we present a new mechanism of nuclear excitation based on the capture of a free muon into the atomic orbits (NE$\mu$C). The cross section of such a new process is evaluated using the Feshbach projection operator formalism and compared to other known excitation phenomena, i.e. photo-excitation and nuclear excitation by electron capture (NEEC), showing up to ten orders of magnitude increase in cross section. NE$\mu$C is particularly interesting for MeV excitations that become accessible thanks to the stronger binding of muons to the nucleus. The binding energies of muonic atoms have been calculated introducing a state of the art modification to the Flexible Atomic Code (FAC). An analysis of an experimental scenarios in the context of modern muon production facilities shows that the effect can be detectable for selected isotopes. The total probability of NE$\mu$C is predicted to be $P\approx 10^{-6}$ per incident muon in a beam-based scenario. Given the high transition energy provided by muons, NE$\mu$C can have important consequences for isomer feeding and particle-induced fission.

15 pages, 4 Figures and 2 Tables

References in corpus (7)

• Theory of nuclear excitation by electron capture for heavy ions
• ${}^{93m}$Mo isomer depletion via beam-based nuclear excitation by electron capture
• Dynamical control of nuclear isomer depletion via electron vortex beams
• Quantum interference between nuclear excitation by electron capture and radiative recombination
• Theoretical prediction of the Fine and Hyperfine structure of heavy muonic atoms
• Decay of the vortex muon
• X-ray assisted nuclear excitation by electron capture in optical laser-generated plasmas

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Isomer depletion via nuclear excitation by inelastic electron scattering