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Contenido archivado el 2022-12-23

Experimental Study of dd radiative capture in Muonic Deuterium

Objetivo

By means of muon catalysis we address phenomena in dd fusion, which have not been previously investigated and which are at the frontier of nuclear few-body physics. For this purpose we propose an experiment to study the muon-catalyzed radiative deuteron capture from muonic deuterium molecules: ddµ -> 4Heµ + gamma +23.8MeV. The experiment will be conducted at JINR (Dubna, Russia) at the installation TRITON using a pressurized deuterium-filled target at room temperature. We will measure the relative yield of the rare reaction mentioned above with a sensitivity of 10^-7. This level of sensitivity is required based on results of d(d,gamma)4He in beam measurements at TUNL (USA). There a ~50%p-wave capture strength below 60keV energy was discovered. This result changes the energy dependence and extrapolated value of the astrophysical S-factor for this reaction, which is relevant to the deuterium burning process in stars and to hot plasma research. When confirmed in the alternative direct experiment proposed here, this effect would lead to progress in the theoretical understanding of the reaction mechanism. It would also result in the development of the experimental techniques for low-background measurements at sea level.

In the scope of this project we will create the primary components for a new experimental apparatus consisting of a Deuterium High Pressure Target (DHPT). We will also compose a set of sandwiched detectors intended to measure the 28 MeV gamma radiation from the capture reaction. In order to reach the mentioned level of sensitivity special techniques it will be necessary to strongly suppress the background. This is achieved by optimising the target parameters so that the ddµ-molecule is resonantly formed with the total angular momentum J=1. The deuteron's than have a relative orbital angular momentum L=1 and the fusion proceeds from the p-wave channel and background originating from other channels is suppressed. Additionally, shielding and coincidence techniques will be applied. In the framework of the "Mu-CATALYSIS" collaboration (INP-ITEP-JINR-TUDelft-VNIIEF) this experiment is has already tried out, but only a sensitivity level of 10^-5 was reached.

Tema(s)

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Coordinador

DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Aportación de la UE
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Dirección
MEKELWEG, 15
DELFT
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Participantes (4)