Radiative collisional quenching of metastable muonic hydrogenpμ−(2s)and the metastable muonic helium ionαμ−(2s)

Abstract

Fully quantum-mechanical calculations have been performed to determine the radiative collisional cross sections for quenching of metastable muonic hydrogen $p{\mu }^{-}\mathrm{}\left(2s\right)\mathrm{}$ by normal hydrogen atoms and for quenching of the metastable muonic helium ion $\alpha {\mu }^{-}\mathrm{}\left(2s\right)\mathrm{}$ by normal helium atoms. The interatomic potential curves and the radiative transition rates for the mixed electronic-muonic systems are calculated using molecular-structure methods. The nuclear motion is treated as adiabatic and the interaction is written in terms of a complex potential. The cross sections are evaluated by direct numerical integration of the Schrödinger equation. The two-body thermal (300 K) quenching rate constants obtained are 3.7×${10}^{-13\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^3$/sec for $p{\mu }^{-}$ and 6.0×${10}^{-15\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^3$/sec for $\alpha {\mu }^{-}$.