Development and operational experience of magnetic horn system for T2K experiment

A magnetic horn system to be operated at a pulsed current of 320 kA and to survive high-power proton beam operation at 750 kW was developed for the T2K experiment. The first set of T2K magnetic horns was operated for over 12 million pulses during the four years of operation from 2010 to 2013, under a maximum beam power of 230 kW, and $6.63\times10^{20}$ protons were exposed to the production target. No significant damage was observed throughout this period. This successful operation of the T2K magnetic horns led to the discovery of the $\nu_{\mu}\rightarrow\nu_e$ oscillation phenomenon in 2013 by the T2K experiment. In this paper, details of the design, construction, and operation experience of the T2K magnetic horns are described.Comment: 22 pages, 40 figures, also submitted to Nuclear Instrument and Methods in Physics Research,

Isotope Effects on Delayed Annihilation Time Spectra of Antiprotonic Helium Atoms in Low-Temperature Gas

The delayed annihilation time spectra (DATS) of antiprotonic helium atoms have been studied in isotopically pure low temperature ^3He and ^4He gas at various densities. The DATS taken at 5.8~K and 400~mbar are very similar in shape except for i) a small difference in the time scale and ii) the presence of a distinct fast decay component in the case of ^3He. The ratio of overall trapping times (mean lifetimes against annihilation), R = T_{\mathrm{trap}}(\mbox{^{4}He})/T_{\mathrm{trap}}(\mbox{^{3}He}), has been determined to be 1.144 \pm 0.009, which is in good agreement with a theoretical estimate yielding R = [(M^*(\mbox{\overline{\mathrm{p}}}\mbox{^{4}He})/ M^*(\mbox{\overline{ \mathrm{p}}}\mbox{^{3}He})]^2=1.14, where M^* denotes the reduced mass of the \mbox{\overline{\mathrm{p}}}\mbox{He^{++}}\ system. The presence of a short-lived component with a lifetime of (0.154\pm 0.007)\ \mbox{\mus} in the case of \mbox{^{3}He}\ suggests that the \mbox{\overline{\mathrm{p}}}\mbox{^{3}He^{+}}\ atom has a state of intermediate lifetime on the border between a metastable zone and an Auger-dominated short-lived zone. The fraction of antiprotons trapped in metastable states at 5.8~K and 400~mbar is lower by 22.2(4)\% for \mbox{^{3}He}\ than for \mbox{^{4}He}. All the data can be fitted fai