Muon Catalyzed Fusion in 3 K Solid Deuterium

Abstract

Muon catalyzed fusion in deuterium has traditionally been studied in gaseous and liquid targets. The TRIUMF solid-hydrogen-layer target system has been used to study the fusion reaction rates in the solid phase of D_2 at a target temperature of 3 K. Products of two distinct branches of the reaction were observed; neutrons by a liquid organic scintillator, and protons by a silicon detector located inside the target system. The effective molecular formation rate from the upper hyperfine state of $\mu d$ and the hyperfine transition rate have been measured: ${\tilde{\lambda }}_{(}3/2)=2.71(7{)}_{stat.}(32{)}_{syst.}\mu /s$, and ${\tilde{\lambda }}_{(3/2)(1/2)}=34.2(8{)}_{stat.}(1{)}_{syst.}\mu /s$. The molecular formation rate is consistent with other recent measurements, but not with the theory for isolated molecules. The discrepancy may be due to incomplete thermalization, an effect which was investigated by Monte Carlo calculations. Information on branching ratio parameters for the s and p wave d+d nuclear interaction has been extracted.

19 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PRA Feb 20, 1997

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Resonant Formation of $d\mu t$ Molecules in Deuterium: An Atomic Beam Measurement of Muon Catalyzed dt Fusion
• The electric quadrupole moment of molecular hydrogen ions and their potential for a molecular ion clock
• Resonant $dd\mu$ Formation in Condensed Deuterium
• Scattering of p$\mu$ muonic atoms in solid hydrogen
• Muon capture by 3He nuclei followed by proton and deuteron production
• Resonant dt-mu formation in condensed hydrogens
• Differential cross sections for muonic atom scattering in solid hydrogenic targets
• The explanation of unexpected temperature dependence of the muon catalysis in solid deuterium