RA post re Ken Long's MICE Spokesperson position
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Neutrinos are three different but related particles; their ability to turn into each other has given physicists their first glimpse of the physics which they know must lie beyond the Standard Model. Investigation of the physics which underlies their properties will: deepen our understanding of how the Universe developed after the Big Bang; how the current asymmetry between matter and anti-matter developed from a situation where they were created in equal amounts in the Big Bang; and help us to understand what happens when a supernova explodes showering the cosmos with the heavy elements necessary for planets and life itself to form.
In order to understand their properties, we must build an accelerator capable of creating neutrinos in immense numbers. They must have energy between well-defined limits and the mixture of different types must be very precisely known. Such a facility, known as the Neutrino Factory, would be revolutionary and to build one is challenging, both from the point of view of the particle detectors that must be built, and the engineering problems that must be overcome. This programme needs a worldwide collaboration and it is one in which physicists and engineers from the UK are playing a leading role.
Neutrinos are created from a beam of muons and the muons themselves are produced from the decay of pions produced by the collision of protons with a metal target. The muon beam produced in this way is large and highly divergent. To make an intense beam of neutrinos requires that the size and divergence of the beam must be reduced. The resulting beam can be accelerated and stored such that when the muons decay an intense beam of high-energy neutrinos is produced. The muons only live for 2.2 microseconds when at rest, and even when they are accelerated and their lifetime is extended by the effect of relativity, there is little time to manipulate them so that they can be accelerated efficiently. The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) collaboration is constructing a section of accelerator that has been designed to demonstrate that the size of the muon beam an be reduced efficiently.
MICE is under construction at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. A beam of muons is created by the ISIS accelerator. Muons pass one by one through the experiment. First their position and momentum is measured in a spectrometer. Then, the muons pass through a vessel filled with liquid hydrogen, where they loose energy by ionising the hydrogen molecules. A short accelerator section restores the energy, accelerating the particles along the beam direction. The result of thus process is to reduce the random sideways motion of the muons, thereby "cooling" the beam; the system which performs the cooling is known as the cooling cell.
The first stage was to build a system capable of producing a muon beam whose size and divergence could be adjusted before it enters the cooling channel. This has been completed. The second stage is to finish construction of the cooling channel itself and to provide a system to measure very accurately the position and momentum of each muon before and after it has passed through the cooling channel. By looking at many muons produced in many different conditions, it will be possible to determine how much cooling has been produced by the channel.
This experiment which is pushing the boundaries of what is possible with materials, magnets and cooling technologies, is a collaboration between particle physicists and accelerator physicists and will demonstrate the UK's ability to host an experiment at the forefront of science and engineering.
In order to understand their properties, we must build an accelerator capable of creating neutrinos in immense numbers. They must have energy between well-defined limits and the mixture of different types must be very precisely known. Such a facility, known as the Neutrino Factory, would be revolutionary and to build one is challenging, both from the point of view of the particle detectors that must be built, and the engineering problems that must be overcome. This programme needs a worldwide collaboration and it is one in which physicists and engineers from the UK are playing a leading role.
Neutrinos are created from a beam of muons and the muons themselves are produced from the decay of pions produced by the collision of protons with a metal target. The muon beam produced in this way is large and highly divergent. To make an intense beam of neutrinos requires that the size and divergence of the beam must be reduced. The resulting beam can be accelerated and stored such that when the muons decay an intense beam of high-energy neutrinos is produced. The muons only live for 2.2 microseconds when at rest, and even when they are accelerated and their lifetime is extended by the effect of relativity, there is little time to manipulate them so that they can be accelerated efficiently. The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) collaboration is constructing a section of accelerator that has been designed to demonstrate that the size of the muon beam an be reduced efficiently.
MICE is under construction at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. A beam of muons is created by the ISIS accelerator. Muons pass one by one through the experiment. First their position and momentum is measured in a spectrometer. Then, the muons pass through a vessel filled with liquid hydrogen, where they loose energy by ionising the hydrogen molecules. A short accelerator section restores the energy, accelerating the particles along the beam direction. The result of thus process is to reduce the random sideways motion of the muons, thereby "cooling" the beam; the system which performs the cooling is known as the cooling cell.
The first stage was to build a system capable of producing a muon beam whose size and divergence could be adjusted before it enters the cooling channel. This has been completed. The second stage is to finish construction of the cooling channel itself and to provide a system to measure very accurately the position and momentum of each muon before and after it has passed through the cooling channel. By looking at many muons produced in many different conditions, it will be possible to determine how much cooling has been produced by the channel.
This experiment which is pushing the boundaries of what is possible with materials, magnets and cooling technologies, is a collaboration between particle physicists and accelerator physicists and will demonstrate the UK's ability to host an experiment at the forefront of science and engineering.
Planned Impact
MICE is a large, capital construction project. A significant part of the investment in the project has been used to source products and materials in British industry. For example, of the £4.50M non-staff spend in Phase I of the project, approximately £4.09M was used to source materials and equipment in the UK.
The UK is responsible for the procurement of the focus-coil modules that focus the muon beam at the centre of the liquid-hydrogen absorbers. Each focus-coil module contains two coils capable of producing a field of 5 T on axis. The coils will be kept cold using closed-cycle refrigerators (cryocoolers), a novel technique requiring considerable development. TESLA Engineering based in Surrey won the contract to provide the focus coils. Engineers and physicists from Technology Department at RAL and the University of Oxford are working with TESLA to ensure that the design and its implementation will yield a magnet fit for purpose in MICE. The expertise gained by TESLA will be applicable in the construction of magnets for other applications. In addition, the UK is responsible for the provision of liquid hydrogen to each of the three absorber-modules. The hydrogen delivery system uses state-of-the-art hydride-bed technology and liquefaction is performed with cryocoolers. The development of the systems for MICE will be carried out in collaboration with industry to the benefit of the hydrogen economy.
The MICE programme is varied, encompassing the development of numerical methods and simulation techniques, the development of accelerator hardware (from conventional transfer lines to the development of novel superconducting magnets), the construction of a novel, pion-production target, the development of hydrogen-handling systems, the provision of RF power, and the construction of state of the art diagnostics. Further, the implementation of the large and complicated project has allowed members of the collaboration to develop project management and integration engineering skills.
MICE is an integral part of the Proton Accelerators for Science and Innovation initiative, putting the UK firmly at the heart of the community that seeks to develop the technology required to produce high intensity muon beams suitable for use in the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider. MICE has created a UK community capable of delivering large and complex projects in an international environment.
Substantial contributions to the experiment in equipment, personnel, and intellectual input are being made by the international collaboration. To date, the international collaboration has provided the muon decay solenoid, beam-line instrumentation (scintillators and scintillating-fibre based beam-position monitors), three time-of-flight hodoscopes, two Cherenkov detectors, a lead-scintillator pre-shower detector, a prototype of the Electron Muon Ranger, the tracker readout and cryogenic systems, three high-power RF amplifiers, and the data-acquisition system. Over the period of the award, the international collaboration will provide the second spectrometer solenoid, the liquid-hydrogen absorbers, and develop the RF-cavity/coupling-coil modules required to complete the cooling cell. The total value of these contributions, through hard to estimate, is in excess of £30M.
By making a success of the MICE project, the UK has gained substantial influence in the international muon accelerators for particle physics community. The leverage opportunity for the future will be to forge appropriate partnerships with those laboratories or collaborations wishing to develop the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider as options for the field. This is being taken forward through the EC FP7 Preparatory Phase Project TIARA in which funds have been secured to turn the infrastructure that supports the MICE experiment into the Ionization Cooling Test Facility (the ICTF).
The UK is responsible for the procurement of the focus-coil modules that focus the muon beam at the centre of the liquid-hydrogen absorbers. Each focus-coil module contains two coils capable of producing a field of 5 T on axis. The coils will be kept cold using closed-cycle refrigerators (cryocoolers), a novel technique requiring considerable development. TESLA Engineering based in Surrey won the contract to provide the focus coils. Engineers and physicists from Technology Department at RAL and the University of Oxford are working with TESLA to ensure that the design and its implementation will yield a magnet fit for purpose in MICE. The expertise gained by TESLA will be applicable in the construction of magnets for other applications. In addition, the UK is responsible for the provision of liquid hydrogen to each of the three absorber-modules. The hydrogen delivery system uses state-of-the-art hydride-bed technology and liquefaction is performed with cryocoolers. The development of the systems for MICE will be carried out in collaboration with industry to the benefit of the hydrogen economy.
The MICE programme is varied, encompassing the development of numerical methods and simulation techniques, the development of accelerator hardware (from conventional transfer lines to the development of novel superconducting magnets), the construction of a novel, pion-production target, the development of hydrogen-handling systems, the provision of RF power, and the construction of state of the art diagnostics. Further, the implementation of the large and complicated project has allowed members of the collaboration to develop project management and integration engineering skills.
MICE is an integral part of the Proton Accelerators for Science and Innovation initiative, putting the UK firmly at the heart of the community that seeks to develop the technology required to produce high intensity muon beams suitable for use in the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider. MICE has created a UK community capable of delivering large and complex projects in an international environment.
Substantial contributions to the experiment in equipment, personnel, and intellectual input are being made by the international collaboration. To date, the international collaboration has provided the muon decay solenoid, beam-line instrumentation (scintillators and scintillating-fibre based beam-position monitors), three time-of-flight hodoscopes, two Cherenkov detectors, a lead-scintillator pre-shower detector, a prototype of the Electron Muon Ranger, the tracker readout and cryogenic systems, three high-power RF amplifiers, and the data-acquisition system. Over the period of the award, the international collaboration will provide the second spectrometer solenoid, the liquid-hydrogen absorbers, and develop the RF-cavity/coupling-coil modules required to complete the cooling cell. The total value of these contributions, through hard to estimate, is in excess of £30M.
By making a success of the MICE project, the UK has gained substantial influence in the international muon accelerators for particle physics community. The leverage opportunity for the future will be to forge appropriate partnerships with those laboratories or collaborations wishing to develop the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider as options for the field. This is being taken forward through the EC FP7 Preparatory Phase Project TIARA in which funds have been secured to turn the infrastructure that supports the MICE experiment into the Ionization Cooling Test Facility (the ICTF).
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- STFC Laboratories (Collaboration)
- Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (Collaboration)
- Medaustron (Collaboration)
- Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) (Collaboration)
- Institute of Cancer Research UK (Collaboration)
- International MICE Collaboration (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
Kenneth Long (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Adams D
(2015)
Electron-muon ranger: performance in the MICE muon beam
in Journal of Instrumentation
MICE Collaboration
(2020)
Demonstration of cooling by the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment.
in Nature
Stratakis D
(2014)
Conceptual design and modeling of particle-matter interaction cooling systems for muon based applications
in Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams
Description | Muons are fundamental particles. Their mass is 200 times that of the electron. They are unstable and decay to produce electron and muon neutrinos. These properties make muons the ideal as a source of neutrinos for beams designed to serve experiments that will be able to study the properties of the neutrino with exquisite precision. In addition, muon may be accelerated to very high energy, allowing leptwn-antilepton collisions at energies much larger than can be achieved using electrons to be conceived. |
Exploitation Route | We have developed and characterised an experiment designed to demonstrate that the size of a beam of muons can be controlled using a process known as ionization cooling. The data acquired during the operation of the experiment is being prepared for publication. Over the past year the seminal demonstration of ionisation cooling has been published in Nature. The result is important since it provides the basis on which future development of muon beams of high brightness can be developed. In addition it places Imperial and the UK in an excellent position of leadership in the field. |
Sectors | Healthcare Other |
URL | https://micewww.pp.rl.ac.uk/projects/mice/wiki/For_the_public |
Description | Various publications and proceedings have used the results. The progress of the MICE experiment and developments such as nuSTORM build on the achievements. The opportunity to develop the accelerator R&D activity at Imperial through the development of novel techniques for radiobiology and for clinical application has arisen out of our work on proton-accerator design and component design and development. This has led to the formation of the interdisciplinary Centre for the Clinical Application of particles which is a collaboration of personnel the Faculty of Medicine, the Imperial Academic Health Science Centre, the Department of Physics, the Imperial CRUK Cancer Centre, the Institute of Cancer Research, the John Adams Institute and the Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology. |
First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
Sector | Other |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | Centre for the Clinical Application of Particles |
Organisation | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | The collaboration will develop techniques and technologies by which to apply particle detection and acceleration techniques to radiobiology and clinical applications. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners provide clinical, biological, oncological and accelerator-science expertise. |
Impact | So far we are setting up the research portfolio. Concrete outcomes will follow. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Centre for the Clinical Application of Particles |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Department | Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The collaboration will develop techniques and technologies by which to apply particle detection and acceleration techniques to radiobiology and clinical applications. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners provide clinical, biological, oncological and accelerator-science expertise. |
Impact | So far we are setting up the research portfolio. Concrete outcomes will follow. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Centre for the Clinical Application of Particles |
Organisation | Institute of Cancer Research UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The collaboration will develop techniques and technologies by which to apply particle detection and acceleration techniques to radiobiology and clinical applications. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners provide clinical, biological, oncological and accelerator-science expertise. |
Impact | So far we are setting up the research portfolio. Concrete outcomes will follow. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Centre for the Clinical Application of Particles |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | CRUK/MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The collaboration will develop techniques and technologies by which to apply particle detection and acceleration techniques to radiobiology and clinical applications. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners provide clinical, biological, oncological and accelerator-science expertise. |
Impact | So far we are setting up the research portfolio. Concrete outcomes will follow. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Centre for the Clinical Application of Particles |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The collaboration will develop techniques and technologies by which to apply particle detection and acceleration techniques to radiobiology and clinical applications. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners provide clinical, biological, oncological and accelerator-science expertise. |
Impact | So far we are setting up the research portfolio. Concrete outcomes will follow. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Development of particle accelerator and detector technologies for clinical and radiobiological applications |
Organisation | Medaustron |
Country | Austria |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Collaboration has been established with Medustron, Wiener Neustadt, Austria for work on the development of accelerator and detector systems for radiobiology and clinical applications. In the first instance we have agreed to collaborate through the placement of a graduate student at MedAustron. |
Collaborator Contribution | MedAustron will support the graduate with accommodation during his long-term attachment. |
Impact | To date we have agreed the parameters of the collaboration. Concrete outcomes will follow. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Development of proton and muon accelerators for science and innovation |
Organisation | STFC Laboratories |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Development of accelerators for pulsed high-power proton sources, study of beam loss in synchrotron, design of FFAG muon ring for neutrino cross section measurements. Development of beam delivered to MICE at RAL. Organisation of Proton Accelerators for Science and Innovation workshops. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of infrastructure and expertise in the above. Collaboration in organisation of the Proton Accelerator for Science and Innovation workshops. |
Impact | Joint proposals for research work. Joint publications, listed elsewhere. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Development of proton and muon accelerators for science and innovation |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Department | ISIS Neutron and Muon Source |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Development of accelerators for pulsed high-power proton sources, study of beam loss in synchrotron, design of FFAG muon ring for neutrino cross section measurements. Development of beam delivered to MICE at RAL. Organisation of Proton Accelerators for Science and Innovation workshops. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of infrastructure and expertise in the above. Collaboration in organisation of the Proton Accelerator for Science and Innovation workshops. |
Impact | Joint proposals for research work. Joint publications, listed elsewhere. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, Imperial College London |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-development of the conceptual design of a novel, laser-driven compact, accelerator system for biomedical applications. |
Collaborator Contribution | The vision of the LhARA collaboration is to develop a laser-driven proton- and opn-beam source capable of driving a step change in capability in the delivery of beams for biological research and in clinical practice. The laser pulse that initiates the production of ions at LhARA may be triggered at a repetition rate of up to 10\,Hz. The time structure of the beam may therefore be varied to interrupt the chemical and biological pathways that determine the biological response to ionising radiation with 10\,ns to 40\,ns long proton or ion bunches repeated at intervals as small as 100\,ms. The technologies chosen to capture, transport, and accelerate the beam in LhARA have been made so that this unique capability is preserved. The LhARA beam may be used to deliver an almost uniform dose distribution over a circular area with a maximum diameter of between 1\,cm and 3\,cm. Alternatively the beam can be focused to a spot with diameter of $\sim 1$\,mm. Th ambition of the collaboration is to demonstrate in operation technologies that have the potential to be developed to make ``best in class'' treatments available to the many by reducing the footprint of future particle-beam therapy systems. The laser-hybrid approach will allow radiobiological studies and eventually radiotherapy to be carried out in completely new regimes, delivering a variety of ion species in a broad range of time structures and spatial configurations at instantaneous dose rates up to and potentially significantly beyond the current ultra-high dose-rate ``FLASH'' regime. |
Impact | The LhARA consortium is the multidisciplinary collaboration of clinical oncologists, medical and academic physicists, biologists, engineers, and industrialists. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | MICE beam line, dipping target and beam line, tracker and MICE Step I data analysis |
Organisation | International MICE Collaboration |
Country | Global |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Construction of, and control systems for the MICE target, construction of the MICE Muon Beam. Construction, commissioning with cosmics, of the MICE tracker. Analysis of data from the MICE experiment and preparation for publication. |
Collaborator Contribution | Contributions to the MICE dipping target, the decay solenoid and conventional magnet systems. Readout for the tracker and contributions to the commissioning. Development of algorithms for the analysis of MICE data and publication. |
Impact | Publications in refereed journals (2); many talks at international conferences. |
Description | Hands-on schools engagement programme at Neutrino 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | School pupils were invited to activities at the Wohl Reachout Lab at Imperial for carious hands-on activities on astro-physics and particle physics. The event was organised in conjunction with the 2016 Neutrino conference in South Kensington. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | MICE mural, competition for schools |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Schools across the UK were contacted by Imperial Schools Liaison and the IoP Schools Liaison to invite entries for a mural to be painted on the MICE shielding wall. The schools were invited to events at RAL to promote the competition. Prizes for the winners were presented by Brian Cox and Art McDonald (Nobel Laureate) at the public lecture at the Neutrino 2016 conference in London. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Public Lecture at Neutrino 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Brian Cox presented the public lecture to a packed audience (750, the maximum the Hall could accommodate) at the Neutrino 2016 conference in South Kensington in Jun2016. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Public engagement at the time of the publication of the seminal MICE demonstration of ionisation cooling in Nature |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Working with CERN, Fermilab, the STFC and others a press release was prepared to mark the publication of the seminal demonstration of ionisation cooling in Nature. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://micewww.pp.rl.ac.uk/projects/mice/wiki/For_the_public |