Upgrade Possibility of the ESS Linac for the ESSnuSB Project

Abstract

The European Spallation Source (ESS), currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, is the world's most powerful neutron spallation source, with an average power of 5 MW at 2.0 GeV. The linac accelerates a proton beam of 62.5 mA peak current at 4 % duty cycle (2.86 ms at 14 Hz). The ESS neutrino Super Beam Project (ESSnuSB) proposes to utilise this powerful accelerator as a proton driver for a neutrino beam that will be sent to a large underground Cherenkov detector in Garpenberg, mid-Sweden. By adding a second H⁻ beam, interleaved with the proton beam, the duty cycle will be increased to 8 % and the average power to 10 MW. In this paper we discuss the modifications of the ESS linac required to reach an additional 5 MW beam power for neutrino production in parallel to spallation neutron production.