Choice of Proton Driver Parameters for a Neutrino Factory

We discuss criteria for designing an optimal 'green field' proton driver for a neutrino factory. The driver parameters are determined by considerations of space charge, power capabilities of the target, beam loading and available RF peak power. A neutrino factory may be the best experimental tool to unravel the physics involved in neutrino oscillation and CP violation phenomena [1]. To have sufficient neutrino flux for acceptable physics results within 5 years requires about 1022 protons on target per year, which corresponds to 1-4 MW of proton beam power from the proton driver depending on the beam energy. In the past, there were individual proposals from different laboratories of a particular design of proton driver capable of delivering beam power from 2 to 4 MW, without consistent attention paid to the needs or requirements from the downstream systems. In this study, we try to identify the requirements from those down stream systems first, then see whether it is possible to design a proton driver to meet those needs. Such a study will also assist site specific proposals to further improve on their designs to better serve the need of a proton driver for neutrino factory applications.