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Why Project X?
Project X would provide, by a large margin, the best neutrino, kaon and muon beams. The proposed facility would allow for numerous experiments at the intensity frontier. The facility also would allow scientists to develop the technologies for a future machine at the energy frontier.
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Project X at Fermilab
Located 45 miles west of Chicago, Fermilab’s particle accelerator complex provides beam to particle physics experiments, test facilities and a cancer treatment center. The proposed Project X would fit on the Fermilab site and replace the 40-year-old linear accelerator and booster ring.
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Project X Conceptual Design
The original design for Project X proposes an 8-GeV pulsed linear accelerator (red). The protons could be stored in the Fermilab Recycler storage ring and delivered to experiments requiring 8 GeV protons, or they could be transferred to the Fermilab Main Injector accelerator for acceleration to 120 GeV. Alternative design exists as well, and plans are still evolving.
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Superconducting RF
Parts of the Project X accelerator will use superconducting radio-frequency cavities, highly efficient devices used to accelerate particles. The cavities are shiny, curvy structures made of niobium, a superconducting metal. It is the same technology that scientists plan to use for a future lepton collider.
Project X is a proposed high-intensity proton accelerator complex that could provide beam for a variety of physics projects. The proposed facility would provide particles at different energies to various experiments. The protons could be accelerated to create a high-intensity neutrino beam for use in neutrino oscillation experiments such as NOvA and the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment. Simultaneously, Project X could supply protons to kaon- and muon-based precision experiments. Other applications are under investigation. The accelerator would contain superconducting radio frequency components similar in design to those for a future lepton collider.
Fermilab workshop to discuss Project X
Nov. 9-10, 2009
Fermilab will hold a workshop Nov. 9-10 to discuss recent developments in the planning of Project X, a proposed upgrade to the laboratory's accelerator complex. Speakers will discuss the evolution of Project X accelerator design; the physics opportunities associated with the upgrade; Fermilab’s experimental program at the Intensity Frontier; and the potential to use Project X as an injector for a proposed muon collider. Attendees will collaborate to write a Project X White Paper.
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Project X research program
Oct. 2009
The ICD-2 Research Program Task Force has released a draft on the potential
physics experiments that could be done with Project X based on a new
conceptual design.
View draft
Briefing on Project X
Aug. 2009
In this PowerPoint presentation, Director Pier Oddone summarizes Fermilab's plans for a high-intensity proton source and how it could provide a path back to the energy frontier.
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Fermilab at the Intensity Frontier
The proposed Project X is part of worldwide research at the intensity frontier.
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