TY - JOUR
T1 - Muonic atom deexcitation via formation of metastable molecular states, in light of experimental verification
AU - Wallenius, J.
AU - Jonsell, S.
AU - Kino, Y.
AU - Froelich, P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank R. Pohl, F. Kottmann and V. Markushin for clarifying discussions. This work was supported by the Swedish Science Council.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - In a recent experiment performed at PSI, a peak in the time-of-flight distribution of pμ(1s) atoms could be identified with decay of ppμ* molecular ions situated below the 2s threshold, providing 900 eV of kinetic energy to the pμ atom. This finding may be interpreted in terms of the side path model which suggests that metastable muonic molecules may form with high probability in resonant collisions between muonic hydrogen in the 2s state and hydrogen molecules, e.g., pμ(2s) + H2 → [ppμ*)νJpq - Pee]νK → [(ppμ*)ν′J′p′q′ - pe]+ + e-. The Coulombic decay of the Auger stabilised ppμ* molecular ion then leads to the formation of highly energetic pμ(1s) atoms. In the present paper calculations of resonant formation rates in pure hydrogen are presented and compared to the quenching rate of pμ(2s) atoms measured at low hydrogen density.
AB - In a recent experiment performed at PSI, a peak in the time-of-flight distribution of pμ(1s) atoms could be identified with decay of ppμ* molecular ions situated below the 2s threshold, providing 900 eV of kinetic energy to the pμ atom. This finding may be interpreted in terms of the side path model which suggests that metastable muonic molecules may form with high probability in resonant collisions between muonic hydrogen in the 2s state and hydrogen molecules, e.g., pμ(2s) + H2 → [ppμ*)νJpq - Pee]νK → [(ppμ*)ν′J′p′q′ - pe]+ + e-. The Coulombic decay of the Auger stabilised ppμ* molecular ion then leads to the formation of highly energetic pμ(1s) atoms. In the present paper calculations of resonant formation rates in pure hydrogen are presented and compared to the quenching rate of pμ(2s) atoms measured at low hydrogen density.
KW - Metastable muonic molecule
KW - Muon deexcitation
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1020816715571
DO - 10.1023/A:1020816715571
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0035780298
VL - 138
SP - 285
EP - 288
JO - Hyperfine Interaction
JF - Hyperfine Interaction
SN - 0304-3843
IS - 1-4
ER -