Nonzero total-angular-momentum three-body dynamics using hyperspherical elliptic coordinates: Application to muon transfer from muonic hydrogen to atomic oxygen and neon

Abstract

A computational method to study three-body rearrangement processes for nonzero total angular momentum is presented. The method is applied to muon exchange between muonic hydrogen and a heavier nucleus ${X}^{Z+}:p\ensuremath{\mu}+{X}^{Z+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}p+{(\ensuremath{\mu}X)}^{(Z\ensuremath{-}1)+}$. Muon-transfer rates are calculated for oxygen and neon including partial waves up to $J=4$ for collision energies in the range ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}--10\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{eV}$. An excellent agreement is obtained with available experimental results.