Abstract:
Muon beams of low emittance provide the basis for the intense, well-characterised neutrino beams necessary to elucidate the physics of flavour at the Neutrino Factory and to provide lepton-anti-lepton collisions at energies of up to several TeV at the Muon Collider. The International Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) will demonstrate ionization cooling; the technique by which it is proposed to reduce the phase-space volume occupied by the muon beam at such facilities.
The status of the MICE construction project will be described together with a summary of the performance of the principal components. Plans for the commissioning and operation of the experiment will be outlined and the measurement programme that will begin next spring will be described. The crucial role of MICE in the development of the long- and short-baseline neutrino programmes will be outlined and the opportunity to develop neutrino beams based on stored muons as a new technique for particle physics will be described.