Thomas Roberts

Gaseous Hydrogen and Muon Accelerators

Ionization cooling, a method for shrinking the size of a particle beam, is an essential technique for future particle accelerators that use muons. In this technique, muons lose energy in all three directions by passing through an absorber while only the longitudinal energy is regenerated by RF cavities. Thus the beam phase space area decreases down to the limit of multiple scattering in the energy absorber. Hydrogen is the material of choice for ionization cooling because of its long radiation length relative to its energy loss. In the application discussed here, dense gaseous hydrogen also suppresses RF breakdown by virtue of the Paschen effect, thereby allowing higher accelerating gradients and a shorter and less‐expensive cooling channel. As described in this paper, a channel of RF cavities pressurized with about 3 tons of cold hydrogen gas could provide transverse muon cooling for a Muon Collider or Neutrino Factory. The present status of this research effort and several issues related to the use of h...

Simulations of MANX, A Practical Six Dimensional Muon Beam Cooling Experiment

A helical cooling channel (HCC) has been proposed to quickly reduce the six‐dimensional phase space of muon beams for muon colliders, neutrino factories, and intense muon sources. Simulation studies of the HCC have already verified the use of a channel with solenoidal, and helical magnetic fields of constant amplitude where, by moving to a rotating frame, a z or time‐independent Hamiltonian can be obtained for detailed analytic treatment. In the discussion below, the HCC concept has been extended to have momentum‐dependent magnetic field strengths for a six‐dimensional M_uon collider A_nd N_eutrino factory muon beam cooling demonstration eX_periment (MANX). The simulation studies reported here for this experiment have shown that liquid helium can be used as an energy absorber and coolant for superconducting magnetic coils and that the HCC parameters can be varied to reduce the maximum required field magnitudes. These developments make the experiment more practical in that safety requirements are relaxed a...

Energy Recovery Linacs for Commercial Radioisotope Production

Photonuclear reactions with bremsstrahlung photon beams from electron linacs can generate radioisotopes of critical interest. An SRF Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) provides a path to a more diverse and reliable domestic supply of short-lived, high-value, high-demand isotopes in a more compact footprint and at a lower cost than those produced by conventional reactor or ion accelerator methods. Use of an ERL enables increased energy efficiency of the complex through energy recovery of the waste electron beam, high electron currents for high production yields, and reduced neutron production and shielding activation at beam dump components. Simulation studies using G4Beamline/GEANT4 and MCNP6 through MuSim, as well as other simulation codes, will design an ERL-based isotope production facility utilizing bremsstrahlung photon beams from an electron linac. Balancing the isotope production parameters versus energy recovery requirements will inform a choice of isotope production target for future experiments.

G4BEAMLINE Simulations of Parametric Resonance Ionization Cooling of Muon Beams

The technique of using a parametric resonance to allow better ionization cooling is being developed to create small emittance beams so that high collider luminosity can be achieved with fewer muons. While parametric resonance ionization cooling (PIC) of muons has been shown to work in matrix‐based simulations using OptiM when the system is properly tuned, doing the same using a much more detailed GEANT‐based g4beamline simulation has been more difficult.

MANX, A 6-D Muon Cooling Demonstration Experiment

Most ionization cooling schemes now under consideration are based on using many large flasks of liquid hydrogen energy absorber. One important example is the proposed Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE), which has recently been approved to run at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). In the work reported here, a potential muon cooling demonstration experiment based on a continuous liquid energy absorber in a helical cooling channel (HCC) is discussed. The original HCC used a gaseous energy absorber for the engineering advantage of combining the energy absorption and RF energy regeneration in hydrogen-filled RF cavities. In the Muon And Neutrino eXperiment (MANX) that is proposed here, a liquid-filled HCC is used without RF energy regeneration to achieve the largest possible cooling rate in six dimensions. In this case, the magnetic fields of the HCC must diminish as the muons lose momentum as they pass through the liquid energy absorber. The length of the MANX device is determined by the maximum momentum of the muon test beam and the maximum practical field that can be sustained at the magnet coils. We have studied a 3 meter-long HCC example that could be inserted between the MICE spectrometers at RAL.

Simultaneous Bunching and Precooling Muon Beams with Gas-Filled RF Cavities

High-gradient, pressurized RF cavities are investigated as a means to improve the capture efficiency, to effect phase rotation to reduce momentum spread, and to reduce the angular divergence of a muon beam. Starting close to the pion production target to take advantage of the short incident proton bunch, a series of pressurized RF cavities imbedded in a strong solenoidal field is used to capture, cool, and bunch the muon beam. We discuss the anticipated improvements from this approach to the first stage of a muon cooling channel as well as the requirements of the RF cavities needed to provide high gradients while operating in intense magnetic and radiation fields.