Feasibility Study of a Compact Gas-Filled Storage Ring for 6-D Cooling of Muon Beams

76038-A major obstacle to building a case for future muon colliders or neutrino factories has been the lack of an experimental demonstration of the principle of ionization cooling of muons. Based on past designs and simulation studies, it is possible that a compact circular storage ring filled with compressed hydrogen gas not only could provide such a demonstration, but also could be built and operated relatively quickly and economically. This project will develop a detailed engineering design of a compressed hydrogen-gas-filled storage ring for cooling muon beams, identify the costs of the major subsystems, and possibly prototype one of the subsystems. Phase I will demonstrate feasibility by determining the preferred lattice for the machine, performing a computer simulation of particle beam evolution during storage, and developing conceptual designs for the magnets, the radio frequency system, and the injection scheme. An investigation of possible applications for such a device outside the high energy physics community will also be made. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Cooled beams of muon particles for use in elementary particle physics experiments could advance mankind¿s understanding of the fundamental nature of energy, the elementary constituents of matter, and the forces that control them. A robust, simple, and economical ring cooler system also could be used to cool ion and particle beams in ion lasers and medical applications.