The DAE{\delta}ALUS Project: Rationale and Beam Requirements

TL;DR

The DAEδALUS project aims to develop cost-effective, reliable low-energy accelerators to produce neutrino beams for enhanced neutrino oscillation studies, complementing large underground detectors and other experiments.

Contribution

This paper proposes innovative accelerator designs, including superconducting and stacked cyclotrons, to meet the specific beam requirements for neutrino experiments at reduced costs.

Findings

Multiple accelerator options are under study, including superconducting and stacked cyclotrons.

Design considerations focus on reliability, beam loss control, and activation minimization.

Cost per machine is targeted below one-tenth of existing megawatt-class proton accelerators.

Abstract

Neutrino physics focuses on huge detectors deep underground. The Sanford Lab in South Dakota will build a 300 kiloton water-Cherenkov detector 1500 meters deep for muon neutrino oscillation studies of the mass hierarchy and CP violation. This will be used by the Long Baseline experiment (LBNE) detecting few GeV neutrinos from Fermilab, 1300 km away. The DAE{\delta}ALUS Collaboration also plans several neutrino-production sites at closer distances up to 20 km from the 300 kT detector, producing muon antineutrinos from stopped pions. The complementarity with LBNE greatly enhances results, and enthusiasm is mounting to do both experiments. DAE{\delta}ALUS needs 0.8-1 GeV accelerators with mA proton beams. Three sites at 1.5, 8 and 20 km from the 300 kT detector require several accelerators. The cost per machine must be below 1/10 of existing megawatt-class proton machines. Beyond high power and energy, beam parameters are modest. Challenges are reliability, control of beam loss and minimizing activation. Options being studied are: a compact superconducting cyclotron; a ring cyclotron accelerating H2+ (with stripping extraction); and a stacked cyclotron with up to 9 planes sharing the same magnet yoke and rf systems.