R&D efforts towards a neutrino factory

The R&D efforts towards a neutrino factory are outlined with special emphasis on the muon cooling issue and the data collected for target optimization.Comment: contribution to NOW08, Conca Specchiulla, Otranto, 200

Behaviour in Magnetic Fields of Fast Conventional and Fine-Mesh Photomultipliers

The performance of both conventional and fine-mesh Hamamatsu photomultipliers has been measured inside moderate magnetic fields. This has allowed the test of effective shielding solutions for photomultipliers, to be used in time-of-flight detectors based on scintillation counters. Both signal amplitude reduction or deterioration of the timing properties inside magnetic fields have been investigated

Study of Electron Swarm in High Pressure Hydrogen Gas Filled RF Cavities

A high pressure hydrogen gas filled RF cavity has been proposed for use in the muon collection system for a muon collider. It allows for high electric field gradients in RF cavities located in strong magnetic fields, a condition frequently encountered in a muon cooling channel. In addition, an intense muon beam will generate an electron swarm via the ionization process in the cavity. A large amount of RF power will be consumed into the swarm. We show the results from our studies of the HV RF breakdown in a cavity without a beam and present some results on the resulting electron swarm dynamics. This is preliminary to actual beam tests which will take place late in 2010

Ab Initio Liquid Hydrogen Muon Cooling Simulations with ELMS in ICOOL

This paper presents new theoretical results on the passage of muons through liquid hydrogen which have been confirmed in a recent experiment. These are used to demonstrate that muon bunches may be compressed by ionisation cooling more effectively than suggested by previous calculations. Muon cooling depends on the differential cross section for energy loss and scattering of muons. We have calculated this cross section for liquid H2 from first principles and atomic data, avoiding traditional assumptions. Thence, 2-D probability maps of energy loss and scattering in mm-scale thicknesses are derived by folding, and stored in a database. Large first-order correlations between energy loss and scattering are found for H2, which are absent in other simulations. This code is named ELMS, Energy Loss & Multiple Scattering. Single particle trajectories may then be tracked by Monte Carlo sampling from this database on a scale of 1 mm or less. This processor has been inserted into the cooling code ICOOL. Significant improvements in 6-D muon cooling are predicted compared with previous predictions based on GEANT. This is examined in various geometries. The large correlation effect is found to have only a small effect on cooling. The experimental scattering observed for liquid H2 in the MUSCAT experiment has recently been reported to be in good agreement with the ELMS prediction, but in poor agreement with GEANT simulation.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Design Studies of Magnet Systems for Muon Helical Cooling Channels

Helical cooling channels with superimposed solenoid and helical dipole and quadrupole coils, and a pressurized gas absorber in the aperture offer high efficiency of 6D muon beam cooling. In this paper, we continue design studies and comparison of two basic concepts of magnet system proposed for a helical cooling channel focusing on the high field sections. The results of magnetic analysis and Lorentz force calculations as well as the superconductor choice are presented and discussed

Effect of subelement spacing in RRP Nb3Sn strands

The Restacked Rod Process (RRP) is the Nb{sub 3}Sn strand technology presently producing the largest critical current densities at 4.2 K and 12 T. However, when subject to plastic deformation, RRP subelements (SE) were found to merge into each other, creating larger filaments with a somewhat continuous barrier. In this case, the strand sees a larger effective filament size, d{sub eff}, and its instability can dramatically increase locally leading to cable quench. To reduce and possibly eliminate this effect, Oxford Instruments Superconducting Technology (OST) developed for FNAL a modified RRP strand design with larger Cu spacing between SE's arranged in a 60/61 array. Strand samples of this design with sizes from 0.7 to 1 mm were first evaluated for transport current properties. A comparison study was then performed between the regular 54/61 and the modified 60/61 design using 0.7 mm round and deformed strands. Finite element modeling of the deformed strands was also performed with ANSYS

Doped H(2)-Filled RF Cavities for Muon Beam Cooling

RF cavities pressurized with hydrogen gas may provide effective muon beam ionization cooling needed for muon colliders. Recent 805 MHz test cell studies reported below include the first use of SF{sub 6} dopant to reduce the effects of the electrons that will be produced by the ionization cooling process in hydrogen or helium. Measurements of maximum gradient in the Paschen region are compared to a simulation model for a 0.01% SF{sub 6} doping of hydrogen. The observed good agreement of the model with the measurements is a prerequisite to the investigation of other dopants

Study of Electron Swarm in High Pressure Hydrogen Gas Filled RF Cavities

A high pressure hydrogen gas filled RF cavity has been proposed for use in the muon collection system for a muon collider. It allows for high electric field gradients in RF cavities located in strong magnetic fields, a condition frequently encountered in a muon cooling channel. In addition, an intense muon beam will generate an electron swarm via the ionization process in the cavity. A large amount of RF power will be consumed into the swarm. We show the results from our studies of the HV RF breakdown in a cavity without a beam and present some results on the resulting electron swarm dynamics. This is preliminary to actual beam tests which will take place late in 2010

HIGH FIELD SOLENOID FOR MUON COOLING.

Magnets made with high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coils operating at low temperatures have the potential to produce extremely high fields for use in accelerators and beam lines. The specific application of interest that we are proposing is to use a very high field (of the order of 50 Tesla) solenoid to provide a very small beta region for the final stages of cooling for a muon collider. With the commercial availability of HTS conductor based on BSCCO technology with high current carrying capacity at 4.2 K, very high field solenoid magnets should be possible. In this paper we will evaluate the technical issues associated with building this magnet. In particular we address how to mitigate the high Lorentz stresses associated with this high field magnet

MANX, A 6-D Muon Cooling Demonstration Experiment

Most ionization cooling schemes now under consideration are based on using many large flasks of liquid hydrogen energy absorber. One important example is the proposed Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE), which has recently been approved to run at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). In the work reported here, a potential muon cooling demonstration experiment based on a continuous liquid energy absorber in a helical cooling channel (HCC) is discussed. The original HCC used a gaseous energy absorber for the engineering advantage of combining the energy absorption and RF energy regeneration in hydrogen-filled RF cavities. In the Muon And Neutrino eXperiment (MANX) that is proposed here, a liquid-filled HCC is used without RF energy regeneration to achieve the largest possible cooling rate in six dimensions. In this case, the magnetic fields of the HCC must diminish as the muons lose momentum as they pass through the liquid energy absorber. The length of the MANX device is determined by the maximum momentum of the muon test beam and the maximum practical field that can be sustained at the magnet coils. We have studied a 3 meter-long HCC example that could be inserted between the MICE spectrometers at RAL