Test of Quantum Electrodynamics by Muonic Atoms: An Experimental Contribution

Abstract

The large unexplained deviations of the experimental muonic 4-3 transitions in Ba and 5-4 transitions in Pb from calculations were found not to be existent. The absolute energies of these transitions agree, on the average, with theory to within 10 eV: The differences between experimental and calculated energies $E^{\mathrm{calc}}-E^{\exp }$ are +2±13 and -2 ±12 eV for the ${\mu }^{-}$-Ba $4f_{\frac{5}{2}}-3\mathrm{}{d}_{\frac{3}{2}}$ and $4f_{\frac{7}{2}}-3\mathrm{}{d}_{\frac{5}{2}}$ transitions, respectively, and 10±16 and -13±14 eV for the ${\mu }^{-}$-Pb $5g_{\frac{7}{2}}-4\mathrm{}{f}_{\frac{5}{2}}$ and $5g_{\frac{9}{2}}-4\mathrm{}{f}_{\frac{7}{2}}$ transitions, respectively.