Pion Attenuation Following Nuclear Proton Decay

Abstract

Pion attenuation following nucleon decay within a nucleus is examined. It is found that predictions of pion survival may be made by use of established phenomenology. The reduction in pion flux is a factor of 2 for ${}_{}{}^{12}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{C}$ or ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$. This implies that the number of observable ${\mu }^{+}\text{'}\mathrm{s}$ for a water source would be 0.55 times that from a free-nucleon mixture. For the ${\pi }^0-e^{+}$ mode the probability of survival as a correlated pair is 0.33.