Recent Progress Towards a Cost-Effective Neutrino Factory Design.pdf

a r X i v : p h y s i c s / 0 5 0 7 0 2 3 v 1 [ p h y s i c s .a c c - p h ] 4 J u l 2 0 0 5 For Publisher’s use RECENT PROGRESS TOWARDS A COST-EFFECTIVE NEUTRINO FACTORY DESIGN DANIEL M. KAPLAN Physics Division, Illinois Institute of Technology, 3101 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60616 USA E-mail: kaplan@ for the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider Collaboration A Neutrino Factory, sending 1020 decay neutrinos per year from a high-energy stored muon beam towards remote detectors, has been suggested as the ultimate tool for precision measurement of the neutrino mixing matrix. Following two rounds of design studies that focused primarily on feasibility, the latest such study has begun the process of cost optimization. New ideas include muon ‘phase rotation’ using high-frequency rf cavities and rapid muon acceleration in non-scaling FFAG rings. The world-wide Neutrino Factory RD effort is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of the required techniques by the end of this decade. If this effort is successful and the next round of neutrino experiments confirms the need for a Neutrino Factory, a timely decision to proceed to Neutrino Factory construction will then be possible. 1 Introduction It has been suggested1 that decay neutri- nos from a stored high-energy muon beam (in a ‘Neutrino Factory’) are the ultimate tool2 for the study of neutrino oscillations and their possible role in baryogenesis via CP-violating neutrino mixing.3 An alternate approach (‘Beta Beams’) uses decay neutri- nos from stored high-energy beams of beta- unstable isotopes.4 The Neutrino Factory concept arose out of earlier work on a possible muon collider.5 A desirable intensity goal for such a facility is a few×1020 neutrinos/year. Two Neutrino Factory feasibility stu- dies6,7 were carried out in the US dur- ing 1999–2001 (commissioned by Fermilab and Brookhaven National Laboratory, re- spectively), spearheaded by members of the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider Col- laboratio