Summary of the Superconducting RF Linac for Muon Collider and Neutrino Factory

TL;DR

This paper reviews the design considerations and challenges of superconducting RF linacs for Muon Collider and Neutrino Factory applications, focusing on proton source requirements and upgrade pathways.

Contribution

It provides an evaluation of different linac options for muon collider and neutrino factory applications based on workshop discussions and identifies key issues and future steps.

Findings

Identifies proton source requirements for muon collider and neutrino factory

Analyzes issues related to realizing these proton sources

Highlights necessary steps for future upgrades

Abstract

Project-X is a proposed project to be built at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory with several potential missions. A primary part of the Project-X accelerator chain is a Superconducting linac, and In October 2009 a workshop was held to concentrate on the linac parameters. The charge of the workshop was to "..focus only on the SRF linac approaches and how it can be used...". The focus of Working Group 2 of this workshop was to evaluate how the different linac options being considered impact the potential realization of Muon Collider (MC) and Neutrino Factory (NF) applications. In particular the working group charge was, "to investigate the use of a multi-megawatt proton linac to target, phase rotate and collect muons to support a muon collider and neutrino factory". To focus the working group discussion, three primary questions were identified early on, to serve as a reference: 1) What are the proton source requirements for muon colliders and neutrino factories? 2) What are the issues with respect to realizing the required muon collider and neutrino factory proton sources? a. General considerations b. Considerations specific to the two linac configurations identified by Project-X. 3) What things need to be done before we can be reasonably confident that ICD1/ICD2 can be upgraded to provide the neutrino factory / muon collider needs? A number of presentations were given, and are available at the workshop web-site. This paper does not summarize the individual presentations, but rather addresses overall findings as related to the three guiding questions listed above.