Muon Catalyzed Fusion (µCF) as a Method for Studying Few Nucleon Systems

Abstract

The theoretical analysis of the methods to obtain information about the properties of few nucleon systems from the muon catalysis studies is presented. The kinetics of the µCF processes in the hydrogen isotope mixture is considered and the observables in µCF are related to the characteristics of the fusion reactions between hydrogen isotopes, e.g., the astrophysical S-factor in the E = 0 limit.The kinetics of µCF in HD mixture is discussed and the doublet and quartet pd spin state contributions to M l pd radiative capture at rest is obtained from the analysis of gamma-ray yields in pdµ → µ 3 He + γ reaction. The non-radiative fusion channel pdµ → µ + 3 He is analyzed and the E0 transition matrix element is determined from the data on the absolute muon yields.The possibility to extract the M1 pt radiative capture constant and the E0 matrix element of 4 He*(0+) excitation is explained.It is shown that the properties of the ddµ molecule and the specific features of its formation mechanism enable one to separate the P- and S-wave dd → pt, n 3 He reaction constants.The spectra of reaction products for ttu → 4 He + µ + 2n, µ 4 He + 2n are shown to be sensitive to fusion mechanism and the possibility to extract reduced nuclear widths for 6 He* decay is pointed out.The perspectives and unsolved problems are outlined.KeywordsFusion ReactionFusion RateHydrogen IsotopeReaction ConstantRadiative CaptureThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.