MICE: the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment. Step I: First Measurement of Emittance with Particle Physics Detectors

The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) is a strategic R&D project intended to demonstrate the only practical solution to providing high brilliance beams necessary for a neutrino factory or muon collider. MICE is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the United Kingdom. It comprises a dedicated beamline to generate a range of input muon emittances and momenta, with time-of-flight and Cherenkov detectors to ensure a pure muon beam. The emittance of the incoming beam will be measured in the upstream magnetic spectrometer with a scintillating fiber tracker. A cooling cell will then follow, alternating energy loss in Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) absorbers to RF cavity acceleration. A second spectrometer, identical to the first, and a second muon identification system will measure the outgoing emittance. In the 2010 run at RAL the muon beamline and most detectors were fully commissioned and a first measurement of the emittance of the muon beam with particle physics (time-of-flight) detectors was performed. The analysis of these data was recently completed and is discussed in this paper. Future steps for MICE, where beam emittance and emittance reduction (cooling) are to be measured with greater accuracy, are also presented

MICE: The muon ionization cooling experiment. Step I: First measurement of emittance with particle physics detectors

Copyright @ 2011 APSThe Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) is a strategic R&D project intended to demonstrate the only practical solution to providing high brilliance beams necessary for a neutrino factory or muon collider. MICE is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the United Kingdom. It comprises a dedicated beamline to generate a range of input muon emittances and momenta, with time-of-flight and Cherenkov detectors to ensure a pure muon beam. The emittance of the incoming beam will be measured in the upstream magnetic spectrometer with a scintillating fiber tracker. A cooling cell will then follow, alternating energy loss in Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) absorbers to RF cavity acceleration. A second spectrometer, identical to the first, and a second muon identification system will measure the outgoing emittance. In the 2010 run at RAL the muon beamline and most detectors were fully commissioned and a first measurement of the emittance of the muon beam with particle physics (time-of-flight) detectors was performed. The analysis of these data was recently completed and is discussed in this paper. Future steps for MICE, where beam emittance and emittance reduction (cooling) are to be measured with greater accuracy, are also presented.This work was supported by NSF grant PHY-0842798

Amyloid β plaque reduction with antibodies crossing the blood-brain barrier, which was opened in 3 sessions of focused ultrasound in a rabbit model

OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study was to remove amyloid β plaques by applying multiple sessions of focused ultrasound (US)-induced blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening using microbubbles with and without delivery of antibodies in a rabbit model. METHODS: The animal model was achieved by feeding a high-cholesterol diet to rabbits for 4 months. Fifty-two New Zealand White rabbits were divided into treatment groups: untreated control, high-cholesterol diet only, antibodies only, focused US only, and focused US and antibodies. Three sessions of focused US were administered to the treatment groups. RESULTS: It was shown that with this animal model, the plaques were 30 μm in diameter. By increasing the number of sessions, the number of plaques decreased (both for focused US only and focused US and antibodies). Without the application of focused US, the average number of plaques dropped from 200/cm2 (before treatment) to 170/cm2 (after treatment). The effect of treatment with focused US with antibodies was more drastic. With 3 BBB opening sessions, the average number of plaques was reduced from 200 to 78/cm2 . CONCLUSIONS: This feasibility study had demonstrated that by opening the BBB, it will be possible to deliver exogenous antibodies to the brain, thus eliminating amyloid β plaques. More importantly with repeated opening of the BBB (3 times in this study), the reduction in the number of plaques was increased

Ultrasonic attenuation of an agar, silicon dioxide, and evaporated milk gel phantom

Background: It has been demonstrated that agar-based gel phantoms can emulate the acoustic parameters of real tissues and are the most commonly used tissue-mimicking materials for high-intensity focused ultrasound applications. The following study presents ultrasonic attenuation measurements of agar-based phantoms with different concentrations of additives (percent of agar, silicon dioxide and evaporated milk) in an effort of matching the material's acoustic property as close as possible to human tissues. Methods: Nine different agar-based phantoms with various amounts of agar, silicon dioxide, and evaporated milk were prepared. Attenuation measurements of the samples were conducted using the through-transmission immersion techniques. Results: The ultrasonic attenuation coefficient of the agar-based phantoms varied in the range of 0.30-1.49 dB/cm-MHz. The attenuation was found to increase in proportion to the concentration of agar and evaporated milk. Silicon dioxide was found to significantly contribute to the attenuation coefficient up to 4% weight to volume (w/v) concentration. Conclusion: The acoustic attenuation coefficient of agar-based phantoms can be adjusted according to the tissue of interest in the range of animal and human tissues by the proper selection of agar, silicon dioxide, and evaporated milk

Ultrasonic attenuation of an agar, silicon dioxide, and evaporated milk gel phantom

Background: It has been demonstrated that agar-based gel phantoms can emulate the acoustic parameters of real tissues and are the most commonly used tissue-mimicking materials for high-intensity focused ultrasound applications. The following study presents ultrasonic attenuation measurements of agar-based phantoms with different concentrations of additives (percent of agar, silicon dioxide and evaporated milk) in an effort of matching the material's acoustic property as close as possible to human tissues. Methods: Nine different agar-based phantoms with various amounts of agar, silicon dioxide, and evaporated milk were prepared. Attenuation measurements of the samples were conducted using the through-transmission immersion techniques. Results: The ultrasonic attenuation coefficient of the agar-based phantoms varied in the range of 0.30-1.49 dB/cm-MHz. The attenuation was found to increase in proportion to the concentration of agar and evaporated milk. Silicon dioxide was found to significantly contribute to the attenuation coefficient up to 4% weight to volume (w/v) concentration. Conclusion: The acoustic attenuation coefficient of agar-based phantoms can be adjusted according to the tissue of interest in the range of animal and human tissues by the proper selection of agar, silicon dioxide, and evaporated milk

MICE STATUS REPORT – DECEMBER 2008

Ionization cooling of intense muon beams is a key technology for high-performance Neutrino Factories or Muon Colliders. MICE will test one full cell of a solenoidal cooling channel lattice under various conditions to demonstrate our understanding of the muon cooling process. It permits an evaluation of the component engineering and fabrication requirements and, after detailed comparisons with simulations, provides a validated design tool for future optimization of a Neutrino Factory or Muon Collider. The MICE collaboration was born in 2001 at the NUFACT01 meeting where a steering group was mandated to prepare a proposal. A LOI was submitted to jointly PSI and RAL in Nov01. PSI declined, but offered a used 5m long 12 cm bore 5 T superconducting decay solenoid for the beam line. RAL encouraged the submission of a full proposal, which was done in Jan03. The experiment was scientifically approved by the RAL CEO in October 2003. In the US, after MUTAC recommendations, funding was granted in 2004, and, in UK, following the gateway process, funding was granted for MICE Phase I in April 2005

MICE STATUS REPORT. Update, January 2011

This brief update report describes highlights of progress since the status report MICE note 316 prepared for the first MICE Project Board meeting in September 2010, which should still be considered the main reference. Earlier reports had been produced for the MICE Funding Agency Committee in December 2008, October 2009 and April 2010. The design of the MICE experiment can be found in the MICE proposal

MICE STATUS REPORT -- OCTOBER 2009

This yearly report is prepared for the MICE Funding Agency Committee. It constitutes an update of the report produced in December 20081, and concentrates on the progress made since. The design of the MICE experiment can be found in the MICE proposal2. A recall of the approval process was given in the Dec08 report as well as a description of the organization of the collaboration; they are not repeated here