Design for detecting recycling muon after muon-catalyzed fusion reaction in solid hydrogen isotope target

Abstract

Muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF) is a cyclic reaction where a negatively charged muon acts as a catalyst for nuclear fusion between hydrogen isotopes. The muon exists in the molecular orbital of the unifying nuclei during the nuclear fusion. The muon with the kinetic energy of the orbital is expected to leave after the nuclear fusion. This muon is called “recycling muon” because it finds the other fusion target nearby and starts the subsequent fusion reaction until the ends of its intrinsic lifetime. The recycling muon has valuable information about the nuclear reaction. In this study, we designed a setup to observe the recycling muons released from a solid hydrogen target using a newly developed charged particle transport method.