Feasibility study of neutrino source based on muon storage ring

One of the first applications of an intense muon source could be a muon storage ring. The muon beam is injected into the ring and decays while circulating. The neutrinos from the decay muons form a very intense and well collimated beam (νe,νμ) that could be used for future neutrino experiments. The idea for such a neutrino source has been described many times [1], but only recently with the progress on ionization cooling concepts being made within the muon collider/neutrino source collaboration, such a source seems feasible. With a new proton driver and a target that can withstand the intense radiation and the power density from the impinging proton beam, the source will produce enough muons through pion decay to achieve approximately 2×1020 muons decaying into neutrinos in one of the straight sections of the storage. In order to achieve this goal very efficient and large aperture focusing and rf accelerating systems have to be developed. The biggest advantage though comes from the fact, that the transverse emittance for a neutrino source has to be reduced by only a factor of approximately ten in both transverse dimensions. The longitudinal emittance coming from the source is of no importance, which makes longitudinal cooling unnecessary. Following the goal of 2×1020 muons/year decaying in one straight section an attempt has been made to investigate the technical feasibility of such a facility as a whole.