Fusion in flight from the molecular continuum of dtμ

Abstract

Fusion reaction rates for the muonic molecular system dtμ are calculated in the scattering continuum above the first break-up threshold (tμ) 1s+d, and for a few of the resonant states there embedded. In order to analyze the fusion in flight reaction (tμ) + d, the molecular wave function is obtained within (a) semiclassical, (b) adiabatic, and (c) nonadiabatic descriptions, in the energy range 0.002–10 keV. The semiclassical rates are higher than the corresponding adiabatic fusion rates, but converge towards the latter for high collision energies. In the nonadiabatic treatment, the qualitatively new structure has been obtained. The fusion rate shows an oscillatory behaviour, associated with the presence of a series of virtual states and variations of the overbarrier transmission in the tμ+d potential scattering. Furthermore, the nonadiabatic fusion rates are substantially enhanced at resonant energies near the tμ 2s threshold.