Radiative collisional quenching of the metastable muonic-helium ion mu He/sup +/(2S)

The calculations, based on the distorted wave approximation, demonstrate that the most important effect leading to destruction of the metastable ion is the formation of a bound molecule ( mu He/sup + /(2P)He); once this molecule is formed, the muon undergoes an electromagnetic transition to the ground state in a very short time ( approximately 5*10/sup -13/ s). The results of the calculation are strongly dependent upon the form of the short-range interaction between the muonic ion and the He atoms, suggesting that precision measurements of the lifetime of the metastable 2S-level in muonic helium could yield useful information about the form of this interaction. (27 refs).