Uncovering the Fate of Muons in Atoms

[snorkack]

I find that I cannot find some simple and basic data - when I search, I find recent articles working on advanced extra experiments, but basic facts are taken for granted there and not repeated.

What happens to a muon in an atom?

Obviously, a free muon decays
μ->e+ν~e+νμ
with lifetime about 2,2*10^-6 s
A muon in atom might do the same.
But the muon in atom has an alternative reaction available:
p+μ->n+νμ
What is the branching ratio, in the ground state of mu hydrogen, between mu decay and muon capture?

 

[Bill_K]

Try this rather long http://www.ca.infn.it/~oldeman/mucapt/mukhopadhyay.pdf on Nuclear Muon Capture.