Muon capture by {sup 3}He nuclei followed by proton and deuteron production

The paper describes an experiment aimed at studying muon capture by {sup 3}He nuclei in pure {sup 3}He and D{sub 2}+{sup 3}He mixtures at various densities. Energy distributions of protons and deuterons produced via {mu}{sup -}+{sup 3}He{yields}p+n+n+{nu}{sub {mu}} and {mu}{sup -}+{sup 3}He{yields}d+n+{nu}{sub {mu}} are measured for the energy intervals 10-49 MeV and 13-31 MeV, respectively. Muon capture rates {lambda}{sub cap}{sup p}({delta}E{sub p}) and {lambda}{sub cap}{sup d}({delta}E{sub d}) are obtained using two different analysis methods. The least-squares methods give {lambda}{sub cap}{sup p}=(36.7{+-}1.2) s{sup -1}, {lambda}{sub cap}{sup d}=(21.3{+-}1.6) s{sup -1}. The Bayes theorem gives {lambda}{sub cap}{sup p}=(36.8{+-}0.8) s{sup -1}, {lambda}{sub cap}{sup d}=(21.9{+-}0.6) s{sup -1}. The experimental differential capture rates, d{lambda}{sub cap}{sup p}(E{sub p})/dE{sub p} and d{lambda}{sub cap}{sup d}(E{sub d})/dE{sub d}, are compared with theoretical calculations performed using the plane-wave impulse approximation with the realistic nearest-neighbor interaction Bonn B potential. Extrapolation to the full energy range yields total proton and deuteron capture rates in good agreement with former results.