Nuclear Surface Effects in Muon Capture

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Abstract
Slow-muon capture in heavy nuclei results in a moderately excited nucleus which emits mostly neutrons and to a lesser extent, charged particles. The neutron and alpha emissions can be explained as statistical emission from the compound nucleus formed. The experimentally observed proton emission is ten times higher than that predicted by the same mechanism. It is proposed to take into account clustering of nucleons at the nuclear surface in order to account for the increased proton emission. The capture of the muon by two-nucleon clusters at the surface of AgBr nuclei is calculated and the subsequent direct proton emission evaluated. The experimental findings can be explained with a reasonable strength of correlations assumed.