Nuclear Gamma Radiation Caused by a Muon at Rest in 152Sm

TL;DR

This paper investigates nuclear gamma radiation caused by muon decay at rest in 152Sm, revealing a new process for studying nuclear monopole states through muon-induced excitation.

Contribution

It presents the first investigation of dynamic E0 excitation of nuclei via muon decay in a muonic atom, introducing a novel method for nuclear monopole state analysis.

Findings

Identification of gamma radiation from muon decay in 152Sm

Discovery of a new nuclear excitation process

Validation of muon decay as a tool for nuclear studies

Abstract

Investigation of the interaction of muons with complex nuclei yields important results on the properties of nuclei and on their electromagnetic interaction with muons happening to be in the Coulomb field of the nucleus. The muon serves as a unique instrument in studies of the charge distribution and of other properties of nuclei. The following are processes which yield information relevant to the properties of nuclei. This work is the first (and unique) investigation of the dynamic E0 excitation of nucleus at muon - decay on the K-orbit of muonic atom.This excitation mechanism permits one to get per se nuclear monopole excitation. Study of nuclear excitation by the decay of the bound muon is of independent interest - discovery of a new process and validation of ideas about it in the future can provide a new complementary method for studying nuclear monopole states.