Systematic study of muon transfer to sulphur dioxide

In a systematic study of the transfer process to sulphur dioxide, in seven different H₂ + SO₂ gas mixtures, the time spectra of the muonic sulphur X-rays yield muon transfer rates to the SO₂ molecule, deduced from the lifetimes of the p atoms, which agree all well with each other. The muonic oxygen time spectra show an additional structure as if p atoms of another kind were present. Reduced transfer rates_O are reproducible if one uses the model of ephemeral p atoms. The intensity ratios between the different kinds of p atoms are also discussed in the framework of this model and the one of black and white p atoms.