A Cost-Effective Upgrade Path for the Fermilab Accelerator Complex

TL;DR

This paper proposes a cost-effective upgrade plan for Fermilab's accelerator complex, focusing on replacing the Booster and reusing existing infrastructure to achieve higher beam power for neutrino experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, economical Booster replacement design that reuses the Recycler ring to enhance beam power and maintain existing capabilities.

Findings

Achieves 2.4 MW beam power on the LBNF target.

Maintains 8-GeV proton beam delivery to Fermilab Muon Campus.

Reduces upgrade costs through innovative design and reuse of existing components.

Abstract

The Fermilab Proton Improvement Plan II, or PIP-II, would enable the world's most intense high-energy neutrino beam and would help scientists search for rare particle physics processes. The PIP-II goal is to deliver 1.2 MW of proton beam power from the Fermilab Main Injector, over the energy range 60 - 120 GeV, at the start of operation of the LBNF/DUNE program. PIP-II provides a variety of upgrade paths to higher beam power from the Main Injector, as demanded by the neutrino science program and as recommended by the 2014 P5 report. Delivering more than 2 MW to the LBNF target in the future will require a replacement of the existing Booster. This report outlines a cost-effective Booster replacement option and an upgrade path for the Fermilab Accelerator Complex to attain 2.4-MW beam power on the LBNF target, as well as to retain the capability to provide 8-GeV proton beams to the existing Fermilab Muon Campus via the existing Recycler ring. Its cost-effectiveness is achieved by: (1) using a small-diameter metallic vacuum chamber in the Booster replacement and (2) reusing the existing Recycler ring. Reusing the Recycler ring may be of particular advantage since it is presently employed to deliver 8-GeV beams to the Muon Campus experiments. The present concept also retains such a capability.