Discovery of temperature-dependent phenomena of muon-catalyzed fusion in solid deuterium and tritium mixtures.

A systematic experimental study on muon-catalyzed fusion was conducted using a series of solid deuterium and tritium mixtures. A variety of conditions were investigated, i.e., tritium concentrations from 20% to 70%, and temperatures from 5 to 16 K. With decreasing temperature, we observed an unexpected decrease in the muon cycling rate (λ c ) and an increase in the muon loss probability (W). The origins of these observed changes were interpreted by the temperature-dependence in the dtμ formation process for λ c and that in the muon reactivation process after muon-to-α sticking for W.