Experimental detection and investigation of muon catalyzed fusion of deuterium and tritium

Abstract

Measurement of the neutron yield of the reaction dtμ → 4 He + μ − + 17.6 MeV , induced by negative muons in a mixture of gaseous D 2 and T 2, has shown that the rate of muon transfer from deuterium to tritium is λ dt = (2.7 ± 0.9) × 10 8s −1 and that the lower limit of the formation rate of dt μ molecules is λ dtμ > 10 8s −1.