Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-particle-and-nuclear-physics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/section-b/5/h/solution
Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 Section B 5 h Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Use a high-energy proton beam on a target to produce secondary pions, then select and focus the negative ones. A magnetic horn and a charge-selecting dipole system remove positive pions, limiting wrong-sign contamination. Select a narrow range of magnetic rigidity; if additional species rejection is available, velocity or mass discrimination reduces negative kaon contamination at the same momentum.
The selected travel through an evacuated decay tunnel and undergo . Their forward Lorentz boost concentrates the antineutrinos within an angle of order . Choose a tunnel long enough for substantial pion decay but short compared with the boosted muon decay length. Since is much longer than , this reduces secondary contamination.
Downstream magnets sweep the remaining charged particles into absorbers, and shielding stops residual hadrons and muons. The antineutrino beam continues straight through. Parent-particle collimation, charge selection, and a forward detector improve purity; neutral-kaon decays, remaining wrong-sign parents, and muon decays prevent perfect purity. Neutrinos themselves cannot be focused or charge-selected by these magnets. Neutrinos produced after stopped-muon decay or capture are much less forward and can be reduced by directional and energy selection.
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