Experimentation at a Muon Collider

Abstract

Experimental activities involving multi-TeV muon collisions are a relatively recent endeavor. The community has limited experience in designing detectors for lepton interactions at center-of-mass energies of 10 TeV and beyond. This review provides a short overview of the machine characteristics and outlines potential sources of beam-induced background that could affect the detector performance. The strategy for mitigating the effects of the beam-induced background on the detector at $\sqrt{s}=3$ TeV is discussed with a focus on the machine–detector interface, detector design, and implementation of reconstruction algorithms. The physics potential at this center-of-mass energy is evaluated using a detailed detector simulation that incorporates the effects of the beam-induced background. This evaluation concerns the Higgs boson couplings and the Higgs field potential sensitivity, which then are used to obtain confidence on the expectations at 10 TeV. The physics and detector requirements for an experiment at $\sqrt{s}=10$ TeV, outlined here, form the foundation for the initial detector concept at that center-of-mass energy.