Enabling Intensity and Energy Frontier Science with a Muon Accelerator Facility in the U.S.: A White Paper Submitted to the 2013 U.S. Community Summer Study of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society

TL;DR

This white paper outlines a staged plan for muon accelerator facilities in the U.S. that advance particle physics research and technology development, from neutrino experiments to high-energy colliders.

Contribution

It proposes a comprehensive, phased approach to develop muon-based facilities, integrating R&D and physics exploration at each stage, building upon existing infrastructure.

Findings

nuSTORM enables sterile neutrino searches and muon cooling technology development

A staged Neutrino Factory allows detailed neutrino property studies and muon beam technology validation

Progression to Muon Colliders facilitates Higgs measurements and beyond Standard Model physics exploration

Abstract

A staged approach towards muon based facilities for Intensity and Energy Frontier science, building upon existing and proposed facilities at Fermilab, is presented. At each stage, a facility exploring new physics also provides an R&D platform to validate the technology needed for subsequent stages. The envisioned program begins with nuSTORM, a sensitive sterile neutrino search which also provides precision neutrino cross-section measurements while developing the technology of using and cooling muons. A staged Neutrino Factory based upon Project X, sending beams towards the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), which will house the LBNE detector, could follow for detailed exploration of neutrino properties at the Intensity Frontier, while also establishing the technology of using intense bunched muon beams. The complex could then evolve towards Muon Colliders, starting at 126 GeV with measurements of the Higgs resonance to sub-MeV precision, and continuing to multi-TeV colliders for the exploration of physics beyond the Standard Model at the Energy Frontier. An Appendix addresses specific questions raised by the Lepton Colliders subgroup of the CSS2013 Frontier Capabilities Study Group.