Last Update: October 2000

NuFact (Bari, Legnaro, Milano, Napoli, Padova, Roma I , Trieste)

A INFN Working Group (WG) in the framework of the ECFA Working Groups towards a Neutrino Factory Complex

1 Goal of the Working Group

The INFN NuFact Working Group is part of the ECFA group working towards the realization of a Muon Complex with a Muon Storage Ring in mind as first application that would provide superior beams of muon AND electron neutrinos. This has become known as Neutrino Factory (NuFact).

Neutrino Factories will eventually be capable of superior neutrino intensity thanks to two major innovations:

1) the realization of a super intense proton driver capable of accelerating up to 10^16 protons/sec

2) the selective acceleration of the muons produced. It is the first time that we plan to accelerate neutrino parents. This will result in an unprecedented increase of neutrino flux, that is proportional to the square of the parent momentum.

INFN physicisist have been part of the ECFA Working Group since its beginnings in the middle of 1998. They have contributed to the first major document produced for ECFA, CERN Yellow Report 99-06 and later to the NuFact99 and NuFact00 International Workshops.

The INFN group has interest in the totality of the ECFA WG general program . In addition to the principal aim of a NuFact Complex, that is experimentation for long and very long baseline studies of neutrino oscillations, including possibly CP violation effects, a very rich additional program is envisaged.

Short baseline neutrino physics with absolutely unprecedented intensities. And more in general the opening to experimentation of a high intensity fronteer that will complement the push for higher center of mass energies. Studies of rare decays and/or conversions of slow muons (lepton flavor violation), rare decay of kaons being the first natural candidates .

A Conceptual Design of a Neutrino Factory is envisaged for the year 2005. A factory could be in operation not much later than 2010. More remote in time, the possibility of physics at Muon Colliders remains a long term goal of these efforts.

The INFN group wants to contribute to the definition of the physics reach and design of a future Muon Complex and intends to partecipate to as many as possibler of the techninal R&D steps that are necessary. It aims at testifying the interest of INFN in this sector and keeping INFN aware of the ongoing developments.

The group sinergically operates together with other INFN sectors in this effort. It is proud of having stimulated the birth of a similar working group, centered around LNF, working on the extremely challenging accelerator aspects of a Muon Complex.

2 Physics achievements during 2000

A lthough our working group has being financed by Commissione II for the first time in year 2000, valuable work has been done already in 1999. CERN Yellow Report 99-06 documents that activity as well as the several contributions of INFN authors to the Proceedings of NuFact99. The proposal of the first concrete R&D project, the hadroproduction experiment HARP, is dated November 1999.

During the year 2000 HARP has been approved and brought to operation to a large extent already. We hope that the successful launch of HARP is only the first instance of generation inside the Working Group of such R&D projects. HARP II and HARP III extensions are already in sight. Studies towards the realization and the instrumentation of a prototype muon COOling Test Facility (COOTEF) have advanced this year and promise to make a preliminary proposal possible by the mid of 2001.

While the Working Group includes in its vocation the stimulation of such R&D projects and the assembling of the human resources necessary, it aims at the same time to keep an independent existence and activity, focused on the physics reach of the Muon Complex.

Among the achievements of year 2000 we count the already mentioned support given to beginnining, in the Spring, of the accelerator oriented activity lead by L. Palumbo and M. Castellano at LNF. We are now working together towards making of COOTEF the first common project of these two INFN communities.

Thanks to its assiduous partecipation to the activities of the ECFA group, the INFN group has been again capable of assembling several significant contribution to the yearly meeting of the international community working in this sector, the NuFact00 Workshop in Monterey.

3 INFN contribution to the ECFA Working Groups

INFN contributes to the Working Group a significant fraction of its activity. The financial cost of its existence is limited.

4 Number of publications in referred journals

3 in the NIM published Proceedings of NuFact99. 5 in the Proceedings of NuFact00, in preparation.

5 Number of talks to conferences

5 talks given by INFN members of the Working Group

6 Number of thesis on NuFact : none for the moment

7 Leadership role in the Working Group

Guglielmi(PD) and Palladino(NA) have been among the few original initiators of the HARP program.

8 Innovative instruments

The entire project, as well as many of its suprojects, represents an oustanding technical challenge

9 Competitive experiments

A Neutino Factory and Muon Collaboration of similar nature is active since 1996 in the USA. Japanese efforts is growing. Friendly competition and constructive collaboration has become the common practice.

10 International reviews:

ECFA has reviewed and endorsed.the Working Group already twice. Next review is coming in December 2000.