2020/01/27 by V. D. Fotev, V. A. Ganzha, Fotev, V. D. +45
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2001.09927
openalex publication_date 2020/01/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This report presents the results of an experiment aimed at observation of the muon catalyzed 3 He d fusion reaction 3 He + μ d→3 He μ d→4 He(3.66MeV)+p(14.64MeV)+μ which might occur after a negative muon stop in the D2+3 He gas mixture. The basic element of the experimental setup is a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) which can detect the incoming muons and the products of the fusion reaction. The TPC operated with the D2 + 3He (5%) gas mixture at 31K temperature. About 108 3 He μ d molecules were produced with only 2 registered candidates for the muon catalyzed 3 He d fusion with the expected background Nbg=2.2± 0.3 events. This gives an upper limit for the probability of the fusion decay of the 3 He μ d molecule PF(3 He μ d)≤ 1.1⋅ 10-7 at 90% C.L. Also presented are the measured formation rate of the 3 He μ d molecule λd3He=192(3)⋅ 106 s-1 and the probability of the fast muon transfer from the excited to the ground state of the μ d atom q1S=0.80(3).