{"id":{"repo_id":"washington","oai_identifier":"oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/40287"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/washington/oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/40287","repository":{"repo_id":"washington","name":"University of Washington","base_url":"https://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Muon-Catalyzed Fusion Effects in the Precision Measurement of Muon Capture on the Deuteron","abstract":"The MuSun experiment will measure the rate of muon capture on the deuteron to 1.5~\\% precision. This reaction is related to solar $pp$ fusion and the $\\nu d$ scattering reaction at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory through effective field theories like chiral perturbation theory. The Gamow-Teller transition in all of these processes contains a single unknown low-energy constant that determines the strength of the axial coupling to the two-nucleon system. Muon capture on the deuteron provides a precise and theoretically clean determination of this low-energy constant. The capture rate is determined by comparing the free muon lifetime to a 10~ppm measurement of the lifetime of negative muons stopped in a deuterium target. MuSun achieves this precision by tracking muons with a cryogenic time-projection chamber to ensure they stop in deuterium. This dissertation characterizes and quantifies a systematic measurement error known as fusion interference, which is a class of tracking error caused by muon-catalyzed fusion reactions following the muon stop. An efficiency difference between events with and without fusion leads to a non-exponential decay time distribution and causes a shift in the measured lifetime. The design and operation of the MuSun experiment and the data analysis procedures are summarized. A formalism is developed to describe the parameters of fusion interference and a correction procedure based on a specialized muon tracking algorithm is presented.","abstract_html":"The MuSun experiment will measure the rate of muon capture on the deuteron to 1.5~\\% precision. This reaction is related to solar $pp$ fusion and the $\\nu d$ scattering reaction at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory through effective field theories like chiral perturbation theory. The Gamow-Teller transition in all of these processes contains a single unknown low-energy constant that determines the strength of the axial coupling to the two-nucleon system. Muon capture on the deuteron provides a precise and theoretically clean determination of this low-energy constant. The capture rate is determined by comparing the free muon lifetime to a 10~ppm measurement of the lifetime of negative muons stopped in a deuterium target. MuSun achieves this precision by tracking muons with a cryogenic time-projection chamber to ensure they stop in deuterium. This dissertation characterizes and quantifies a systematic measurement error known as fusion interference, which is a class of tracking error caused by muon-catalyzed fusion reactions following the muon stop. An efficiency difference between events with and without fusion leads to a non-exponential decay time distribution and causes a shift in the measured lifetime. The design and operation of the MuSun experiment and the data analysis procedures are summarized. A formalism is developed to describe the parameters of fusion interference and a correction procedure based on a specialized muon tracking algorithm is presented.","abstract_has_math":true,"creators":["Murray, Michael H."],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Kammel, Peter"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-08-11","date_published":"2017-08-11","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:58:18Z","subjects":["muon","nuclear physics","Physics"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":["none"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1773/40287","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Kammel, Peter"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Murray, Michael H."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2017-08-11T22:59:36Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-08-11T22:59:36Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2017-08-11"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["muon","nuclear physics","Physics"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["none"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["Murray_washington_0250E_16964.pdf"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1773/40287"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-06"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The MuSun experiment will measure the rate of muon capture on the deuteron to 1.5~\\% precision. This reaction is related to solar $pp$ fusion and the $\\nu d$ scattering reaction at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory through effective field theories like chiral perturbation theory. The Gamow-Teller transition in all of these processes contains a single unknown low-energy constant that determines the strength of the axial coupling to the two-nucleon system. Muon capture on the deuteron provides a precise and theoretically clean determination of this low-energy constant. The capture rate is determined by comparing the free muon lifetime to a 10~ppm measurement of the lifetime of negative muons stopped in a deuterium target. MuSun achieves this precision by tracking muons with a cryogenic time-projection chamber to ensure they stop in deuterium. This dissertation characterizes and quantifies a systematic measurement error known as fusion interference, which is a class of tracking error caused by muon-catalyzed fusion reactions following the muon stop. An efficiency difference between events with and without fusion leads to a non-exponential decay time distribution and causes a shift in the measured lifetime. The design and operation of the MuSun experiment and the data analysis procedures are summarized. A formalism is developed to describe the parameters of fusion interference and a correction procedure based on a specialized muon tracking algorithm is presented."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Muon-Catalyzed Fusion Effects in the Precision Measurement of Muon Capture on the Deuteron"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Kammel, Peter"],"dc:creator":["Murray, Michael H."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2017-08-11T22:59:36Z"],"dc:date.available":["2017-08-11T22:59:36Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2017-08-11"],"dc:description":["Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-06"],"dc:description.abstract":["The MuSun experiment will measure the rate of muon capture on the deuteron to 1.5~\\% precision. This reaction is related to solar $pp$ fusion and the $\\nu d$ scattering reaction at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory through effective field theories like chiral perturbation theory. The Gamow-Teller transition in all of these processes contains a single unknown low-energy constant that determines the strength of the axial coupling to the two-nucleon system. Muon capture on the deuteron provides a precise and theoretically clean determination of this low-energy constant. The capture rate is determined by comparing the free muon lifetime to a 10~ppm measurement of the lifetime of negative muons stopped in a deuterium target. MuSun achieves this precision by tracking muons with a cryogenic time-projection chamber to ensure they stop in deuterium. This dissertation characterizes and quantifies a systematic measurement error known as fusion interference, which is a class of tracking error caused by muon-catalyzed fusion reactions following the muon stop. An efficiency difference between events with and without fusion leads to a non-exponential decay time distribution and causes a shift in the measured lifetime. The design and operation of the MuSun experiment and the data analysis procedures are summarized. A formalism is developed to describe the parameters of fusion interference and a correction procedure based on a specialized muon tracking algorithm is presented."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.other":["Murray_washington_0250E_16964.pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1773/40287"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:rights":["none"],"dc:subject":["muon","nuclear physics","Physics"],"dc:title":["Muon-Catalyzed Fusion Effects in the Precision Measurement of Muon Capture on the Deuteron"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:58:18Z"}