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Feynman diagram of the muon capture. A negatively charged muon is captured by a proton. The proton is transformed into a neutron and a muon-neutrino is emitted. The interaction is mediated by a W-boson. Muon capture is the capture of a negative muon by a proton, usually resulting in production of a neutron and a neutrino, and sometimes a gamma ...
For example, so-called secondary muons, created by cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere, can penetrate the atmosphere and reach Earth's land surface and even into deep mines. Because muons have a greater mass and energy than the decay energy of radioactivity, they are not produced by radioactive decay.
The majority of the muons continue to bond with other hydrogen isotopes and continue fusing nuclei together. However, not all of the muons are recycled: some bond with other debris emitted following the fusion of the nuclei (such as alpha particles and helions), removing the muons from the catalytic process. This gradually chokes off the ...
The heavier muons and taus will rapidly change into electrons and neutrinos through a process of particle decay: the transformation from a higher mass state to a lower mass state. Thus electrons are stable and the most common charged lepton in the universe , whereas muons and taus can only be produced in high-energy collisions (such as those ...
Others decay into photons, subsequently producing electromagnetic cascades. Hence, next to photons, electrons and positrons usually dominate in air showers. These particles as well as muons can be easily detected by many types of particle detectors, such as cloud chambers , bubble chambers , water-Cherenkov , or scintillation detectors.
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decaying after a mean lifetime of 26.033 nanoseconds (2.6033 × 10 −8 seconds), and the neutral pion π 0 decaying after a much shorter lifetime of 85 attoseconds (8.5 × 10 −17 seconds). [1] Charged pions most often decay into muons and muon neutrinos, while neutral pions generally decay into gamma rays.
muon capture, which pervades at depths a few meters below the subsurface because muons are inherently less reactive; in some cases, high-energy muons can reach greater depths [7] neutron capture , which due to the neutron's low energy are captured into a nucleus, most commonly by water, [ clarification needed ] but this process is highly ...