The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment

Muon storage rings have been proposed for use as sources of intense high-energy neutrino beams and as the basis for multi-TeV lepton-antilepton colliding-beam facilities. Optimizing the performance of such facilities is likely to require the phase-space compression (cooling) of the muon beam prior to acceleration and storage. The short muon lifetime makes traditional beam-cooling techniques ineffective. Ionization cooling, a process in which the muon beam is passed through a series of energy absorbers followed by accelerating RF cavities, is thus the technique of choice. The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) collaboration has been formed to carry out a muon-cooling demonstration experiment, and its proposal to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory has been approved. The MICE cooling channel, its instrumentation, and its implementation at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are described together with the predicted performance of the channel and the measurements that will be made.