Molecular effects in low-energy muon transfer from muonic hydrogen to oxygen

TL;DR

This paper investigates muon transfer from muonic hydrogen to oxygen, emphasizing molecular structure effects, and develops a computational model to interpret experimental data and support hyperfine splitting measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach to account for molecular structure effects in muon transfer cross sections and improves theoretical agreement with experimental data.

Findings

Molecular structure significantly influences muon transfer rates.

The developed model accurately describes muonic hydrogen kinetics in H2/O2 mixtures.

Results support precise measurements of proton properties in muonic hydrogen experiments.

Abstract

In the present study we determine from the available experimental data the cross section of muon transfer to molecular oxygen at low energies with account of the oxygen molecule structure. Building on an earlier work, the results highlight the role of the molecular structure effects and signifcantly improve the agreement with theoretical calculations of the muon transfer rate. An effcient computational model of the kinetics of processes involving muonic hydrogen atoms in gaseous mixture of H2 and O2 is developed and analyzed. The model is applied in the description of the FAMU experiment for the measurement of the hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen and the Zemach radius of the proton.