NuSTORM and a Path to a Muon Collider

Abstract

This article reviews the current status of the nuSTORM facility and shows how it can be utilized to perform the next step on the path toward the realization of a μ+μ- collider. This review includes the physics motivation behind nuSTORM, a detailed description of the facility and the neutrino beams it can produce, and a summary of the short-baseline neutrino oscillation physics program that can be carried out at the facility. The basic idea for nuSTORM (the production of neutrino beams from the decay of muons in a racetrack-like decay ring) was discussed in the literature more than 30 years ago in the context of searching for noninteracting (sterile) neutrinos. However, only in the past 5 years has the concept been fully developed, motivated in large part by the facility's unmatched reach in addressing the evolving data on oscillations involving sterile neutrinos. Finally, this article reviews the basics of the μ+μ- collider concept and describes how nuSTORM provides a platform to test advanced concepts for six-dimensional muon ionization cooling.