Muon collider experiments as electron/positron beam sources: case studies of new light-particle searches

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of muon colliders to serve as sources of high-energy electrons and positrons for new light-particle searches, demonstrating feasible extraction methods and proposing complementary detection strategies that surpass current experimental limits.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of electron/positron extraction feasibility at muon colliders and introduces novel search strategies for dark matter and light particles leveraging collider-specific decay features.

Findings

Achievable deflections of 0.1-10 mrad for high-energy electrons.

Extraction schemes are practically feasible with existing magnet configurations.

Proposed search strategies extend beyond current experimental sensitivities.

Abstract

At muon colliders, muon decays naturally produce intense electrons and positrons with unique features, namely high energies, high repetition rates, and small intrinsic uncertainties, that are unavailable at existing accelerator facilities. We quantitatively study the feasibility of extracting such particles in two representative future muon collider designs, IMCC and $\mu$TRISTAN. Using Monte Carlo simulations with the corresponding design parameters, we study the spatial, angular, and energy distributions of decay electrons and positrons in the curved sections of the collider ring. We find that typical deflections of $0.1-10~\mathrm{mrad}$ can be achieved even for high-energy electrons carrying large energy fractions ($\simeq 0.6 - 1.0$) of the muon beam energy, with the ring bending magnets (or magnets providing an equivalent field) effectively serving as a pre-septum magnet, that partially deflects the beam before the main septum magnet, suggesting that the extraction scheme could be practically feasible. Exploiting the distinct beam properties of IMCC and $\mu$TRISTAN, we propose complementary search strategies, missing energy and momentum searches for dark matter at $\mu$TRISTAN and visible-decay searches for axion-like particles and light scalars at IMCC, which probe parameter space beyond the reach of current and other proposed experiments.