Status of MICE

TL;DR

The paper discusses the development and status of MICE, an experiment designed to demonstrate muon ionization cooling, a crucial technique for producing high-brilliance muon beams for neutrino factories and muon colliders.

Contribution

It provides an overview of the experimental setup, measurement techniques, and plans for measuring muon beam emittance and cooling, advancing the practical implementation of muon ionization cooling.

Findings

Initial emittance measurements performed with spectrometer

Design and construction of cooling cell with liquid hydrogen and RF acceleration

Plans for subsequent emittance and cooling measurements

Abstract

Muon ionization cooling is the only practical method for preparing high-brilliance beams needed for a neutrino factory or muon collider. The muon ionization cooling experiment (MICE) under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory comprises a dedicated beamline to generate a range of input emittance and momentum, with time-of-flight and Cherenkov detectors to ensure a pure muon beam. A first measurement of emittance is performed in the upstream magnetic spectrometer with a scintillating-fiber tracker. A cooling cell will then follow, alternating energy loss in liquid hydrogen with RF acceleration. A second spectrometer identical to the first and a particle identification system will measure the outgoing emittance. Plans for measurements of emittance and cooling are described.