Experimental investigation of muon-induced fusion in liquid deuterium

Abstract

The aim of this work was the accurate determination of the absolute values of the formation rates of muonic molecules from both hyperfine states of the muonic atoms in liquid deuterium (23.8 K) by measuring the absolute yield and time distribution of 2.45 MeV neutrons from dd fusion. The resulting dμd formation rates are λ 1 2 = [5.00 ± 0.34 (stat.) ± 0.22 (syst.)] × 10 4s −1 and λ 1 2 = [3.25 ± 0.23 (stat.) ± 0.23 (syst.)]× 10 6s −1 , respectively. In addition, the hyperfine transition rate between the upper and the lower hyperfine state was determined to be λ hf = [3.05 ± 0.04( stat.) ± 0.06( syst.)]×10 7 s −1. All results are normalized to the density of liquid hydrogen.