muon capture
{{Short description|Capture of a negative muon by a proton}}
File:Feynman diagram of muon caputure.svg
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:
:{{SubatomicParticle|muon}} + {{SubatomicParticle|Proton+}} → {{SubatomicParticle|Neutrino}}μ + {{SubatomicParticle|Neutron0}}
Radiative muon capture (RMC) is a radiative version of OMC, where a gamma photon is emitted:
:{{SubatomicParticle|muon}} + {{SubatomicParticle|Proton+}} → {{SubatomicParticle|Neutrino}}μ + {{SubatomicParticle|Neutron0}} + {{SubatomicParticle|Gamma}}
Theoretical motivation for the study of muon capture on the proton is its connection to the proton's induced pseudoscalar form factor gp.
Practical application - Nuclear waste disposal
Muon capture is being investigated for practical application in radioactive waste disposal, for example in the artificial transmutation of large quantities of long-lived radioactive waste that have been produced globally by fission reactors. Radioactive waste can be transmuted to stable isotopes following irradiation by an incident muon ({{SubatomicParticle|muon}}) beam from a compact proton accelerator source.
References
- {{cite journal | author=T. Gorringe and H.W. Fearing | title= Induced pseudoscalar coupling of the proton weak interaction | journal=Rev. Mod. Phys. | year=2004 | volume=76 | issue= 1 | pages= 31–91 | arxiv=nucl-th/0206039 | doi= 10.1103/RevModPhys.76.31 |bibcode = 2003RvMP...76...31G }}
- {{cite journal | author=V.A. Andreev| title= Measurement of the Rate of Muon Capture in Hydrogen Gas and Determination of the Proton's Pseudoscalar Coupling gP | year=2007 | arxiv=0704.2072 |display-authors=etal | doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.032002 | pmid= 17678281 | volume=99 | issue= 3 | pages= 032002 | journal=Physical Review Letters | bibcode=2007PhRvL..99c2002A}}
- [https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/056878645/publication/WO2016143144A1?q=pn%3DWO2016143144A1 Nagamine, Kanetada (2016) "Nuclear Waste Disposal Method and its apparatus using muon-nuclear-absorption". (WO2016143144A1)] Espacenet (Patent database).
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