Proposal to upgrade the MIPP experiment

Abstract

The upgraded MIPP physics results are needed for the support of NuMI projects, atmospheric cosmic ray and neutrino programs worldwide and will p ermit a systematic study of non-perturbative QCD interctions. The MIPP TPC is the largest contributor to the MIPP event size by far. Its readout system and electronics were designed in the 1990's and limit it to a readout rate of 60 Hz in simple events and;::;:; 20 Hz in complicated events. With the readout chips designed for the ALICE collaboration at the LHC, we propose a low cost scheme of upgrading the MIPP data acquisition speed to 3000 Hz. This will also enable us to measure the medium energy numi target to be used for the NOvA/MINERvA experiments. We outline the capabilities of the upgraded MIPP detector to obtain high statistics particle production data on a number of nuclei that will help towards the understanding and simulation of hadronic showers in matter. Measurements of nitrogen cross sections will permit a better understanding of cosmic ray shower systematics in the atmosphere . In addition , we explore the possibilities of providing tagged neutral beams using the MIPP spectrometer that may be crucial for validating the Particle Flow Algorithm proposed for calorimeters for the International Linear Collider detectors. Lastly, we outline the physics potential of such a detector in understanding non-perturbative QCD processes.

Forward production of charged pions with incident π± on nuclear targets measured at the CERN PS

“…Other data with an incident pion beam, up to higher momenta, has been collected by the Fermilab E970-MIPP experiment [10] and more data at other momenta would be available with its proposed upgrade [11].…”

OnVuddetermination from kaon decays

“…It may be expected that the experiments as DEAR / SIDDHARTA [28] and MIPP [29] will settle the disagreement between the present input data. Recent measurements of the neutral kaon mass m K 0 = 497.625±0.001±0.031 MeV [30] and m K 0 = 497.583 ± 0.005 ± 0.020 MeV [31] are dominated by systematical errors and do not improve considerably the twenty years old values of m K 0 = 497.742 ± 0.085 MeV [32] and m K 0 = 497.661 ± 0.033 MeV [33].…”

The Main Injector Particle Production Experiment

“…However, it is desirable to take data on nuclei that have not been measured in the first MIPP run, to extend the data to more momentum settings, to increase statistics further, and to address new physics topics. An upgrade to the MIPP experiment has been proposed in 2006 [12].…”