Experimental Study of Muon-Catalyzed Fusion in Low-Density Deuterium-Tritium Gas

Abstract

High rates for mesomolecular processes were found in a study of neutron spectra from muon-catalyzed $\mathrm{dt}$ fusion in low-density D/T mixtures. An interpretation is given in terms of a reaction-kinetics model which includes hyperfine effects. The hyperfine components of the $d\ensuremath{\mu}t$ formation rates, first separated in this experiment, are large from 30 to 300 K. An unexpected temperature dependence for the transition rate between $\ensuremath{\mu}t$ hyperfine states is found.