Nuclear particle decay in a multi-MeV beam ejected by pulsed-laser impact on ultra-dense hydrogen H(0)

Abstract

The multi-MeV particles ejected from pulsed laser-induced processes in ultra-dense hydrogen H(0) are observed in vacuum at three different distances up to 2[Formula: see text]m from the laser target. In previous publications, massive neutral particles with energy of 1–30[Formula: see text]MeV[Formula: see text]u[Formula: see text] were identified. Direct energy spectra of the particles show energies well above 1[Formula: see text]MeV. The particles studied here interact with metallic collectors and give signals due to several processes like secondary electron emission and lepton pair production (published). Two experimental facts are immediate: (1) the signal per sr at large distance is up to 10 times higher than at short distance, (2) the signal at large distance is faster in real time than at short distance. These results show directly that the signal at long distance is mainly due to a mixture of intermediate particles formed by decay in the beam. The decaying signals have time constants of approximately 12 and 26[Formula: see text]ns for ultra-dense deuterium D(0) and 52 ns for ultra-dense protium p(0). These decay time constants agree well with those for decay of light mesons. These particles with narrow MeV energy distributions are formed by stepwise decay from particles like H[Formula: see text](0). The main result is that a decaying particle flux is formed by the laser-induced processes. The final muons produced may be useful for muon catalyzed fusion.