Radiative Muon Capture on Hydrogen and the Induced Pseudoscalar Coupling

Abstract

The first measurement of the elementary process $μ^- p \rightarrow ν_μ n γ$ is reported. A photon pair spectrometer was used to measure the partial branching ratio ($2.10 \pm 0.22) \times 10^{-8}$ for photons of k > 60 MeV. The value of the weak pseudoscalar coupling constant determined from the partial branching ratio is $g_p(q^{2}=-0.88m_μ^2) = (9.8 \pm 0.7 \pm 0.3) \cdot g_a(0)$, where the first error is the quadrature sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties and the second error is due to the uncertainty in $λ_{op}$, the decay rate of the ortho to para $p μp$ molecule. This value of g_p is $\sim$1.5 times the prediction of PCAC and pion-pole dominance.