Sept. 28, 1999, updated Oct. 12, 1999

During the week of Sept. 20, discussions between members of  the Neutrino 
Factory/Muon Collider Collaboration and the NSF resulted in an opportunity to
present the case for R&D towards a (non-site-specific) design study 
for a neutrino factory.  

A written document is due about Nov. 1, 1999 (VERY SOON!).  Then,
we will present the case to an NSF review panel on Nov. 29, 1999.
At that time, Andy Sessler will present an overview of a neutrino
factory, I will sketch the physics case, and Maury Tigner will
close with remarks on the desirable relation between the NSF,
universities and national laboratories in the context of a neutrino
factory.

The document should include at least 3 components:
   1.  The physics case for a neutrino factory.
   2.  A technical sketch of a neutrino factory.
   3.  A preliminary sketch of an R&D program that might be supported
       by the NSF Major Research Equipment program; perhaps $25-30M over a
       3-year period, beginning in 2002. 
       This funding would be complementary to that
       we anticipate from the U.S. Department of Energy.
 
The positive outcome of this exercise is a call to write an
actual proposal for R&D funds, to be submitted about June 1, 2000.
Plus, the NSF may be able to provide interim funding to small
proposals related to neutrino factory R&D, which proposals should
be submitted separately.

In a happy scenario, the NSF might participate in the design and
construction of a muon collider via the MRE program, with larger
yearly (>> $10M/yr) funding beginning around 2005.


The Spokesperson and Executive Board of the Neutrino Factory and 
Muon Collider Collaboration have asked me to assemble/edit the 
written document, and we seek your help on this.  
This help can take any/all of several forms:
 
1.  Discussion of how to proceed in dealing with both large and
     small issues.  We anticipate setting up an e-mail forum for
     this, but in the time being, feel free to contact me at
     mcdonald@puphep.princeton.edu
 
2.  Contributions to the document.  We need text, figures and
     tables by Oct. 15, to permit final editing during the following
     2 weeks.  In view of the time, such contributions will
     generally exist already.
 
3.  Signing the doscument.  Policy here is not final.  Since the
     nominal goal is funds for accelerator R&D, I
     believe the Letter should be submitted by the Neutrino
     Factory and Muon Collider Collaboration.
 
     However, the importance of the document to the NSF is as a
     measure of interest in the neutrino factory, especially its
     physics program.   Hence, it appears advantageous if the
     author list is as large as possible.
 
     This leads to the following issue:
 
4.   Recruiting physicists interested in either/both the
      experimental and accelerator physics of a neutrino 
      factory.

      An immediate aspect of such recruitment would be
      their signing the Letter.
 
      Rather soon, though, we would need to expand the
      character of the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider
      Collaboration with a new entity either part of or parallel to
      the existing structure.  The new group would have the
      character of a Users' Group, and would play a large role
      in advancing the physics case for a neutrino factory;
      
      It is beyond the scope of the effort needed for the NSF
      Letter of Intent to organize such a Users' Group -- which
      will undoubtedly evolve somewhat separately.

-----------------------
 
Activities related to preparation of the NSF document will
be viewable at the site
 
http://puhep1.princeton.edu/mumu/NSFLetter/
 
The NSF initiative is formally separate from the Fermilab effort 
towards a site-specific study due Mar. 31, 2000.  However, the 
physics goal is the same, the interested parties are largely the 
same, and we anticipate close interaction between the efforts to 
produce both documents.
 
The web site for the Fermilab study is
 
http://www.fnal.gov/projects/muon_collider/nu/study/study.html

--Kirk McDonald, Sept. 28, 1999.
  for the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider Collaboration