NUCLEAR-REACTION RATES IN 4-BODY MUON MOLECULES

The basic properties of the ground states in the four-body muon molecu les pp mu mu, pd mu mu, pt mu mu, dd mu mu, dt mu mu, and tt mu mu are calculated. It is found that the nuclear reaction rates (R(f)) in suc h four-body molecules are significantly larger than for the correspond ing three-body ions with the same nuclei: pp mu, pd mu, pt mu, dd mu, dt mu, and tt mu. In particular, for the dt mu mu system R(f)(dt) appr oximate to 3 x 10(13)-6x10(13) sec(-1), which is approximate to 40 tim es greater than the respective R(dt)(dt mu) value.