Microscopic calculation of total ordinary muon capture rates for medium-weight and heavy nuclei

Abstract

Total ordinary muon capture (OMC) rates are calculated on the basis of the quasiparticle random phase approximation for several spherical nuclei from 90Zr to 208Pb. It is shown that total OMC rates calculated with the free value of the axial-vector coupling constant gA agree well with the experimental data for medium-size nuclei and considerably exceed the experimental rates for heavy nuclei. The sensitivity of theoretical OMC rates to the nuclear residual interactions is discussed.