MICE-UK Phase II and the UKNF consortium; agreed allocations
Lead Research Organisation: University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
The species of particles currently known to physics, the neutrinos, which come in three types: electron, muon, and tau, are probably among the most intriguing but least understood. The neutrinos have tiny masses and interact with matter only very weakly. The results of all particle physics experiments to date have been readily explained by the 'Standard Model' of particle physics, developed in the 1960s: that is, except, for a small set of results from a select few experiments investigating the behaviour of neutrinos. Neutrinos are naturally produced continuously in stars and the earth's atmosphere. Experiments to detect these neutrinos have consistently found fewer neutrinos than are produced. More recently, experiments involving man-made neutrinos have demonstrated similar neutrino oscillation behaviour. For each particle type in nature, there is a corresponding anti-particle type - the anti-particles together are known as anti-matter. Of particular interest is the question of whether the oscillations of anti-neutrinos are the same as those of neutrinos. This question is believed to be related to the fact that the universe today is composed almost entirely of matter, whereas the Big Bang should have created equal amounts of matter and anti-matter. The mystery of where the anti-matter has gone could be explained by a difference in the oscillation behaviour of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. This question can only be answered by making ultra-sensitive measurements of neutrino oscillations using high-intensity man-made beams of neutrinos. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to produce the most intense beams of neutrinos ever created by man in a 'Neutrino Factory'. These beams of neutrinos will be directed at various angles through the Earth. This will allow the properties of the neutrinos to be determined far more precisely than ever before, and will allow us to answer the fundamental question of whether the oscillations of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos are the same or not. This should solve the puzzle of where the anti-matter created at the Big Bang has gone, and therefore help to explain the existence of the universe as we know it today. The Neutrino Factories will produce intense neutrino from the decay of parent particles called muons. There are a number of important issues that must be addressed before the Neutrino Factory can be realized. First, the issue of producing sufficient proton-beam must be dealt with. Second it is necessary to develop novel techniques to accelerate the muons very rapidly since muons decay with a lifetime (at rest) of 2.2 microseconds. One of the most important problems is that of squeezing down (cooling) the volume of space occupied by the muon beam before it enters the muon-acceleration system. The commonly used techniques for cooling beams of particles cannot be used for muons because they decay to neutrinos so quickly. The development of a new technique called 'ionisation cooling' is essential. If a beam of muons is passed through material the muons will slow down. If they are then reaccelerated in the same direction, the size and spread of the beam will be reduced. If this process is repeated many times, the beam can be made narrow and parallel enough to fit into a storage ring. The Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment (MICE) at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK aims to demonstrate the ionisation cooling of muons for the first time. It consists of a short 'cooling section' which contains 'absorbers' where the muons lose energy and 'cavities' where the muons are accelerated by high electric fields. The muons will be guided by strong magnetic fields from superconducting magnets. The size the muon beam will be measured before and after it has passed through the cooling section. Because the cooling section is short the cooling effect will be quite small and the before- and-after measurements must be made with a precision of one part in a thousand.
ST/H003142/1
Facility Development (100%)
Accelerator R&D (100%)
University of Oxford, United Kingdom (Lead Research Organisation)
University of New Hampshire, United States (Collaboration)
University of Warwick, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
Brunel University, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
Medical University of Sofia (Collaboration)
University of Mississippi (Collaboration)
Fermilab - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Collaboration)
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States (Collaboration)
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) (Collaboration)
University of California Riverside, United States (Collaboration)
University of Geneva, Switzerland (Collaboration)
National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy (Collaboration)
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford (Collaboration)
Head Office (Collaboration)
Harbin Institute of Technology, China (Collaboration)
National Institute for Subatomic Physics Nikhef (Collaboration)
Illinois Institute of Technology, United States (Collaboration)
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) (Collaboration)
John Cobb (Principal Investigator)
Baynham D (2010) Progress on the Design and Fabrication of the MICE Focusing Magnets in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
Blackmore V (2011) PARTICLE TRACKING AND BEAM MATCHING THROUGH THE NEW VARIABLE THICKNESS MICE DIFFUSER
Sakamoto H (2010) The MICE spectrometers for the measurement of muon beam emittance in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Description MICE
Organisation Brunel University London
Department Department of Physics
PI Contribution Engineering Design and production of Superconducting Focus Coils Commissioning of said Focus Coils Engineering Design, manufacture and testing of Diffuser Commissioning of MICE muon beamline Scientific leadership in: the development of a method to measure emittances and momentum spectrum of muons in beamline, the analysis of beamline data and measurement of emittances and momenta the simulations of the experiment Simulations of beamline 'Bottoms up' model of multiple Coulomb Scattering Testing of liquid hydrogen system Testing of first Focus Coil Membership of magnetic shielding group Coordination of Analysis Group Membership of Technical and Executive boards
Collaborator Contribution Construction and Engineering of beamline and components of the experiment Simulation studies Operations
Impact Commissioning of MICE muon beam and LH2 system Measurement of emittance of the new MICE muon beam Measurement of momentum spectrum of muons Better understanding of multiple scattering in low Z materials Testing / training of MICE suoperconducting magnets
Organisation Daresbury Laboratory
Organisation European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Organisation Fermilab - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Organisation Harbin Institute of Technology
Department Institute of Cryogenics and Superconductivity Technology
Organisation High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)
Organisation Illinois Institute of Technology
Organisation Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Organisation Medical University of Sofia
Department Faculty of Physics
Country Bulgaria
Organisation National Institute for Nuclear Physics
Department National Institute for Nuclear Physics - Rome
Organisation National Institute for Subatomic Physics Nikhef
Organisation Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Organisation University of California, Riverside
Department Department of Physics And Astronomy
Organisation University of Geneva
Department Physics Section
Organisation University of Glasgow
Department Physics and Astronomy Department
Organisation University of Mississippi
Department Department of Physics & Astronomy
Organisation University of New Hampshire
Organisation University of Warwick