The neutrino factory and related accelerator R&D

Abstract

A muon-based neutrino factory, encompassing high power proton accelerators, innovations in rapid acceleration techniques for unstable particles, and initiatives such as ionisation cooling, provides a rich and varied source of high-energy R&D. Over the last ten years, the UK has played a leading role in progress towards a large-scale neutrino facility, both at national and international level, and now seeks to move to the next phase with preparation of an International Design Study report for publication in 2010. The basic principles of the project are outlined here, with emphasis on the major problems still to be overcome. Much of the development work relates to other areas of accelerator science - such as spallation neutron sources, used for research in condensed matter physics - and the way in which such projects interact and benefit from each other is also described.