MUON POLARIZATION EFFECTS IN THE FRONT END OF THE NEUTRINO FACTORY
Abstract
The authors summarize the methods used for simulation of polarization effects in the front end of a possible neutrino factory. They first discuss the helicity of muons in the pion decay process. They find that, neglecting acceptance considerations, the average helicity asymptotically approaches a magnitude of 0.185 at large pion momenta. Next they describe the methods used for tracking the spin through the complicated electromagnetic field configurations in the front end of the neutrino factory, including rf phase rotation and ionization cooling channels. Various depolarizing effects in matter are then considered, including multiple Coulomb scattering and elastic scattering from atomic electrons. Finally, they include all these effects in a simulation of a 480 m long, double phase rotation front end scenario.