Elsevier

Nuclear Physics A

Volume 478, 29 February–7 March 1988, Pages 757-767
Nuclear Physics A

Search for spontaneous conversion of muonium to antimuonium

(Presented by Vernon W. Hughes)
https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9474(88)90914-1Get rights and content

Abstract

We have searched for spontaneous conversion of muonium (M) to antimuonium (M) by a method involving detection of high-Z muonic X-rays. A beam of M atoms with keV energies, produced by electron pickup by μ+ from a foil, travels in vacuum and in a magnetic field-free environment to a high-Z target. The events signatures used were a double coincidence of two muonic X-rays of the target material and a triple coincidence that also required detection of secondary electrons ejected when M strikes the target. Partial analysis of our 8 × 106 triggers indicates upper limits on the effective MM four-fermion coupling constant of GMM ⩽ 30GF (90% C.L.) and GMM ⩽ 8GF (90% C.L.), respectively, from the two signatures. This begins to probe predictions of the left-rightsymmetric theory with a doubly-charged Higgs triplet.

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Cited by (3)

This research was funded in part by US Department of Energy (Yale University, Los Alamos National Laboratory), National Science Foundation (College of William and Mary, University of Mississippi) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (University of Heidelberg).

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