Target dependence of the effective sticking probability in muon-catalyzedd-tfusion

A mechanism is described which could explain the recently observed density (φ) and tritium-fraction ($C_t$) dependence of the muon-loss probability in muon-catalyzed d-t fusion. The effect is due to a hypothetical side path in the main catalysis cycle. It is proposed that the lifetime of a bottleneck state in the side path is controlled by ionization resulting from tritium radiolysis. The predicted dependence on φ √$C_t$ then agrees with the experiment.