Wave functions of the Hylleraas type were used earlier to calculate energy
levels of muonic systems. Recently, we found in the case of the molecular i
ons H-2(+), D-2(+), and HD+ that it was necessary to include high powers of
the internuclear distance in the Hylleraas functions to localize the nucle
ar motion when treating the ions as three-body systems without invoking the
Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We tried the same approach in a muonic sys
tem, td mu (-) (triton, deuteron, and muon). Improved convergence was obtai
ned for J = 0 and 1 states for shorter expansions when we used this type of
generalized Hylleraas function, but as the expansion length increased the
high powers were no longer useful. We obtained good energy values for the t
wo lowest J = 0 and 1 states and compared them with the best earlier calcul
ations. Expectation values were obtained for various operators, the Fermi c
ontact parameters, and the permanent quadrupole moment. The cusp conditions
were also calculated. The polarizability of the ground state was then calc
ulated using second-order perturbation theory with intermediate J = 1 pseud
ostates. (It should be possible to measure the polarizability by observing
Rydberg states of atoms with td mu (-) acting as the nucleus.) In addition,
the initial sticking probability (an essential quantity in the analysis of
muon catalyzed fusion) was calculated and compared with earlier results.