The calculation of the muon transfer rate from protium to neon on the ground of a two-centre Coulomb basis

Abstract

Results of improved calculations of the muon transfer rate from the 1S-state of muonic protium to neon are presented in the interval of collision energies from 10^(-4) eV to 15 eV. The calculations were made within the PSS method in which the three-body wavefunction is expanded in eigenfunctions of a two- centre Coulomb problem formulated in the Jacobi coordinates of the entrance channel. This approach provides the asymptotically correct description of this channel: the correct dissociation limit is obtained, there are no spurious long-range interactions, the polarization attraction appears naturally, the electron screening can be easily taken into account. The defects of the description are removed into the muon transfer channel in which their effect is not expected to be too significant because of large kinetic energies there. The previous calculations carried out in this way allowed one to explain experimentally observed features of the temperature dependence of the transfer rate in hydrogen-neon mixtures. In the present work, a more perfect algorithm of constructing the basis eigenfunctions has been realized and a better agreement with experimental data has been obtained.