Study of the nuclear fusion in a muonic dμ3He complex

Abstract

An experimental study of the nuclear fusion reaction in the charge-asymmetrical dμ 3 He complex (dμ 3 He → α (3.5 MeV) + p (14.64 MeV)) is presented. The 14.64 MeV protons were detected by three pairs of Si(dE − E) telescopes placed around the cryogenic target filled with D2 + 3 He gas at 34 K. The 6.85 keV γ rays emitted during the de-excitation of the dμ 3 He complex were detected by a germanium detector. The measurements were performed at two D2 + 3 He target densities, ϕ = 0.0585 and ϕ = 0.168 (relative to liquid hydrogen density) with an atomic concentration of 3 He c3 He = 0.0496. The values of the effective rate of nuclear fusion in dμ 3 He were obtained for the first time: λf = (4.5 +2.6 −2.0 ) × 10 5 s −1 (ϕ = 0.0585); λf = (6.9 +3.6 −3.0 ) × 10 5 s −1 (ϕ = 0.168). The J = 0 nuclear fusion rate in dμ 3 He was derived: λ J =0 f = (9.7 +5.7 −2.6 ) × 10 5 s −1 (ϕ = 0.0585); λ J =0 f = (12.4 +6.5 −5.4 ) × 10 5 s −1 (ϕ = 0.168).

Measurement of helium-3 and deuterium stopping power ratio for negative muons

“…An experimental setup (see Fig. 1) developed for studying the muon-catalysed nuclear fusion reaction dµ 3 He → α + µ + p (14.6 MeV) [24] was used to measure S He/D . The body of the cryogenic gas target was made of pure Al in the form of a sphere 250 cm 3 in volume.…”

“…To find the number of muon stops in runs with 3 He and the D/ 3 He mixture, time distributions of muon decay electrons were approximated by expressions ( 8) and ( 9) (see ref. [24] for more detailed description). Table II presents the numbers of detected muon decay electrons as well as the ratios R = N e /N µ measured in runs 1-5 with pure helium and D/ 3 He mixture.…”

“…Formulae (2) can also be used for negative muons captured in the H/He mixture (with a proper S-value) due to similarity of µ − and π − masses (207m e and 273m e , respectively). Recently a series of experiments on the study of µ-atomic and µ-molecular processes in a D/ 3 He mixture has been carried out at the Paul Scherrer Institute meson factory [22,23,24]. In the experiments we measured the following characteristics: the nuclear fusion rate in a charge-asymmetrical muon complex (dµ 3 He); the probability for transition of the dµ atom from the excited to the ground state (q 1s ); intensities of x-ray radiation of µHe atoms resulting both from muon capture by 3 He atoms and from transfer of the muon from the dµ atom under its de-excitation to the 3 He nucleus.…”

Quantum Mechanical Three-Body Systems and Its Application in Muon Catalyzed Fusion

“…This lifetime is amply long for most experiments. Muon catalyzed fusion (μCF) is a physical phenomenon in which the negative muon is able to cause fusion at room temperature and thereby eliminating the need for high temperature plasmas or powerful lasers (Owski, 2007;Imo et al, 2006;Filchenkov et al, 2005;Filipowicz et al, 2008;, 2009Marshal, 2001;Bystritsky et al, 2006, Nagamine et al, 1987Nagamine, 2001;Ponomarev, 2001). In comparison with (μCF), hot fusion schemes are made difficulty by the electrostatic (Coulomb) repulsion between positively charged nuclei.…”

Rotational de-excitation of hydrogen–helium muonic molecules in non-ionizing collisions with hydrogen atoms

“…Experiments gave the corresponding fusion rate averaged over J-state populations, β J , i.e. λ eff = β 0 λ 0 f + β 1 λ 1 f ∼ 10 5 s −1 [6], where β J are determined by a possible 1 → 0 de-excitation (the opposite transition is practically excluded in room temperature targets due to large transition energy, 22.4 eV). The first experimental attempt to answer the question about a possible 1 → 0 transition mechanism was presented in [7] where the J-dependence of the probability of ( 3 Heµd) ++ J radiative decay was measured.…”