MICE: the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment. Step I: First Measurement of Emittance with Particle Physics Detectors

TL;DR

The paper reports the first measurement of muon beam emittance using particle physics detectors in the MICE project, demonstrating the feasibility of muon ionization cooling for future neutrino factories or muon colliders.

Contribution

This work presents the initial measurement of muon beam emittance with particle physics detectors, validating the MICE experimental setup and paving the way for precise emittance reduction studies.

Findings

First emittance measurement with particle physics detectors at MICE

Successful commissioning of beamline and detectors in 2010

Foundation for future precise emittance reduction measurements

Abstract

The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) is a strategic R&D project intended to demonstrate the only practical solution to providing high brilliance beams necessary for a neutrino factory or muon collider. MICE is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the United Kingdom. It comprises a dedicated beamline to generate a range of input muon emittances and momenta, with time-of-flight and Cherenkov detectors to ensure a pure muon beam. The emittance of the incoming beam will be measured in the upstream magnetic spectrometer with a scintillating fiber tracker. A cooling cell will then follow, alternating energy loss in Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) absorbers to RF cavity acceleration. A second spectrometer, identical to the first, and a second muon identification system will measure the outgoing emittance. In the 2010 run at RAL the muon beamline and most detectors were fully commissioned and a first measurement of the emittance of the muon beam with particle physics (time-of-flight) detectors was performed. The analysis of these data was recently completed and is discussed in this paper. Future steps for MICE, where beam emittance and emittance reduction (cooling) are to be measured with greater accuracy, are also presented.