Formation of true muonium in the Drell-Yan dimuon production

We suggest a new mechanism for the formation of true muonium ($T\!M$), the QED (μ⁺ μ⁻) bound state, due to the Coulomb interaction of muons from μ⁺ μ⁻ pairs generated in the Drell-Yan reaction of protons off nuclei of a thin foil target. The $T\!M$ atoms produced in the ³S₁ long-lived triplet state ($oT\!M$) could escape from the foil to vacuum followed by their decay into e⁺e⁻ pairs. Observation of e⁺e⁻ events with a displaced vertex, and an invariant mass and decay time consistent with the mass and lifetime of the $oT\!M$ is used as a signature of the discovery of $T\!M$. We present estimates of the $T\!M$ yield and briefly discuss an experiment which could lead to such a discovery.