EuCARD-2 work package 8
Description of the infrastructure:
The ICTF facility is a new specialized beam line at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) ISIS
facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). ISIS comprises
source, linac, synchrotron and targets normally operated for the
production of pulsed neutron and muon beams. The new beam line is
equipped with instrumentation to characterize the beam.
The facility was developed for the MICE experiment (Muon ionisation cooling experiment),
which is the first experiment to be installed at the new beam line.
When fully installed (in 2018), the MICE experiment will allow
high-accuracy measurement of emittance, and will deploy unique absorbers
and re-acceleration stations to assess the efficiency of ionization
cooling.
In more detail:
- The ICTF
offers muon beams of either sign, pulsed at 1 Hz, momentum from
120 MeV/c to 350 MeV/c. Also protons, pions and electrons from 100 MeV/c
to 400 MeV/c. Beams are currently available, but will not be at full
intensity before 2015.
- The MICE experiment
will measure muon ionization cooling. The collaboration is
constructing and installing enhanced particle identification (Cherenkov
and calorimeter), and precision (50-60 ps) time measurement at three
locations. Precision tracking will be provided through axial-field
spectrometers equipped with scinitllator-fibre tracking. The ionization
cooling will use liquid-hydrogen absorbers, RF cavities,
liquid-hydrogen-safe infrastructure, and RF power station with 8 MW peak
power at 200 MHz. These items will not be fully available before 2018.
How to apply for ICFT@STFC access – Submission deadline for the next applications is the 25th September 2015.
Description of work:
Modality of access under this project: It is expected that a typical experiment
or test will take about 2 beam-weeks and will need the presence of up
to six external users i.e. external to the ICTF facility. More
specifically, experimental activity supported will encompass:
-
The presence at RAL of external users for equipment delivery and
commissioning, data taking, analysis, in support of muon cooling
experiments, including the MICE experiment.
- The presence at RAL of external users of the beam for tests of particle physics detectors in a low energy beam.
-
The presence at RAL of proponents of new cooling experiments to
undertake studies, installation and eventually data taking
Note: to access the facility under the Transnational Access scheme, certain eligibility criteria must be met.
Support offered under this project:
The beam will be provided free of charge to the external users,
including support for travel and subsistence expenses related to stay at
RAL using accommodation on-site or in the local vicinity. STFC RAL
operates ISIS on a yearly schedule. The support offered includes the
basic infrastructure for the experiments (electricity, network
connectivity, office space, internet connections, control room) and the
beam operation during the experiments.
Outreach to new users: Advertising has also been made in Accelerating News, the CERN Courier, the STFC website and emails to the European Neutrino
community and to worldwide muon facilities to pass to their European
users. Additional Transnational Access advertising will be made e.g. in
physics journals, other web sites and via e-mailing to the particle
physics community. The results of the experiments using this facility
will be presented to the scientific community on a regular basis in
workshops and conferences.
Selection of applications
: A selection panel of outside experts, assisted by MICE scientific and
technical management, will review applications and recommend projects
for support. Further details of the selection procedure can be found here.
EuCARD-2
is co-funded by the partners and the European Commission under
Capacities 7th Framework Programme, Grant Agreement 312453