Nuclear Capture of Muons in Argon and Neon

Abstract

The total nuclear capture rates of muons by argon and neon have been measured. The experiment was performed by stopping negative muons in a target of ultrapure gaseous deuterium (at 6 atm pressure and 293°K) separately contaminated by small amounts of argon and neon, and observing the differential time distribution of the decay electrons coming from muons stopped within the gaseous mixture. The results are ${\lambda }_{c,\mathrm{Ar}}=(1.20\mathrm{}\pm 0.08)\times {10}^6$ ${\sec }^{-1\mathrm{}}$ and ${\lambda }_{c,\mathrm{Ne}}=(0.30\mathrm{}\pm 0.02)\times {10}^6$ ${\sec }^{-1\mathrm{}}$.