What does the GRE consider to be "muonium"?

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Geezer
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What does the GRE consider to be "muonium"?

Post by Geezer » Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:09 am

I know that positronium regularly appears on the GRE, but I think someone also mentioned muonium is appearing (perhaps ETS has exhausted all positronium questions on previous exams?). However, what is muonium? Is it a muon orbiting a proton, or is it an anti-muon and an electron? I seem to see both when I'm searching online....

-Geez

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G01
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Re: What does the GRE consider to be "muonium"?

Post by G01 » Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:16 pm

This is the first I have heard about Muonium being on the GRE.

Muonium is the bound state of an electron and antimuon. According to Wiki it's ionization energy and bohr radius is within .5% of the values for hydrogen. So, would the fomula's used even be that different from a hydrogen question?

Geezer
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Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 1:27 am

Re: What does the GRE consider to be "muonium"?

Post by Geezer » Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:27 pm

So, I've confused a "muonic atom" with "muonium"???

Here's another Wiki entry:
In a muonic atom, an electron is replaced by a muon, which, like the electron, is a lepton. Since leptons are only sensitive to weak, electromagnetic and gravitational forces, muonic atoms are governed to very high precision by the electromagnetic interaction. There are no complications due to strong forces between the lepton and the nucleus.

Since a muon is more massive than an electron, the Bohr orbits are closer to the nucleus in a muonic atom than in an ordinary atom, and corrections due to quantum electrodynamics are more important. Study of muonic atoms' energy levels as well as transition rates from excited states to the ground state therefore provide experimental tests of quantum electrodynamics.



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