This article employs fluid equations to analyse muon beams in gases subject to crossed electric and magnetic fields, focussing in particular on a scheme proposed by D. Taqqu in 2006, whereby transverse compression of the beam is achieved by creating a density gradient in the gas. A general criterion for maximising beam compression, derived from first principles, is then applied to determine optimal experimental conditions for { \mu ^ +} in helium gas. Although the calculations require input of transport data for ({ \mu ^ +}, He), which are generally unavailable, this issue is circumvented by "aliasing" ({ \mu ^ +}, He) with (H{ ^ +}, He), for which transport coefficient data are available.
Categories: physics.chem-ph physics.atom-ph physics.plasm-ph