Muon capture
Appearance
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Muon capture is the capture of a negative muon by a proton, usually resulting in production of a neutron and a neutrino, and sometimes a gamma photon.
Muon capture by heavy nuclei often leads to emission of particles; most often neutrons, but charged particles can be emitted as well.
Ordinary muon capture (OMC) involves capture of a negative muon from the atomic orbital without emission of a gamma photon:
μ−
+
p+
→
ν
μ +
n0
Radiative muon capture (RMC) is a radiative version of OMC, where a gamma photon is emitted:
μ−
+
p+
→
ν
μ +
n0
+
γ
One motivation for the study of muon capture on the proton is its connection to the proton's induced pseudoscalar form factor gp.
References
- T. Gorringe and H.W. Fearing (2004). "Induced pseudoscalar coupling of the proton weak interaction". Rev.Mod.Phys. 76: 31–91. arXiv:nucl-th/0206039. Bibcode:2003RvMP...76...31G. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.76.31.
- V.A. Andreev; et al. (2007). "Measurement of the Rate of Muon Capture in Hydrogen Gas and Determination of the Proton's Pseudoscalar Coupling gP". Physical Review Letters. 99. arXiv:0704.2072. Bibcode:2007PhRvL..99c2002A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.032002.