Secondary Beams at Jefferson Lab Workshop (BDX & Beyond)

Sep 4, 2025, 9:00 AM → Sep 5, 2025, 6:05 PM US/Eastern

F113 (Jefferson Lab)

Marco Battaglieri (JLab/INFNGE), Mariangela Bondì (INFN), Michael Kohl (Hampton University), Patrick Achenbach (Jefferson Lab)

BDX & Beyond Workshop

The International Workshop on Secondary Beams at Jefferson Lab (BDX & Beyond) will focus on optimizing the use of intense secondary beams at Jefferson Lab produced by the interaction of high-intensity electron beams with beamdumps. It aims to bring together experts in neutrino, muon, and light dark matter physics — from both experimental and theoretical communities — to explore the potential of the available secondary beams.

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The Format of the Workshop:

The workshop will be hybrid in-person and on Zoom and will include sessions on muon physics, neutrino physics, dark matter and dark sector searches, instrumentation and targets, and other topics including beamdump and beamlines and is encouraging new ideas for physics with experiments in a planned underground vault behind the Hall A beamdump.

Speakers contributions and the outcome of the discussions at the workshop will be summarized in a White Paper that will be made publicly available on arXiv.

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Host:

The BDX & Beyond Workshop will be hosted by the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). There is no registration fee.

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Zoom connection:

The workshop will be in hybrid mode. A Zoom connection will be made available to registered participants.

Abstract Template abstract.tex references.bib

Thu, September 4

9:00 AM → 10:15 AM Introduction

Convener: Patrick Achenbach (Jefferson Lab)

9:00 AM Jefferson Lab and BDX Facility (tbc)

9:15 AM Future Initiatives for the JLab Experimental Program​

Speaker: Cynthia Keppel (Jefferson Lab)

9:30 AM Introduction to Secondary Beams at Jefferson Lab

Speaker: Marco Battaglieri

9:45 AM The BDX & Beyond Infrastructure

Speaker: Walt Akers

10:00 AM Simulation of Secondary Beam Fluxes

Speaker: Antonino Fulci

10:20 AM → 10:50 AM Coffee Break

10:50 AM → 12:30 PM Thursday Morning

Convener: Marco Battaglieri (JLab/INFNGE)

10:50 AM Light dark matter searches with BDX

Speaker: Marco Spreafico (INFN GE)

11:15 AM Probing Millicharged Particles at BDX with Ultralow-Threshold Sensors (remote)

We propose to search for millicharged particles produced in high-intensity electron beam dumps using small ultralow-threshold sensors. As a concrete example, we consider a Skipper-CCD placed behind the beam dump in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. We compute the millicharged particle flux, including both electromagnetic cascade and meson productions emanating from an aluminum target. We find that the sensitivity of a modest 2x14 array of Skipper-CCDs can exceed the sensitivity of all existing searches for millicharged particle masses below 1.5 GeV, and is either competitive or world-leading when compared to other proposed experiments. Our results demonstrate that small-scale ultralow-threshold silicon devices can enhance the reach of accelerator-based experiments, while fitting comfortably within existing experimental halls.

Speaker: Zhen Liu

11:40 AM Measuring Proton Form Factors and Two-Photon Exchange with the Future BDX Muon Beam

Speaker: Ethan Cline

12:05 PM Neutrino Physics Opportunities with Pion and Kaon Decay-at-Rest Neutrino Source

Speaker: Vishvas Pandey

12:30 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch Break

2:00 PM → 3:30 PM Thursday Afternoon I

Convener: Mariangela Bondì (INFN)

2:00 PM Precision physics with low-energy muons (remote)

Speaker: Adrian Signer

2:15 PM Directional muon beams using Laser Plasma Acceleration at the BELLA Center (remote)

Speaker: Davide Terzani (remote)

2:40 PM Liquid Argon-based technologies for neutrino and dark matter detection

Speaker: Claudio Montanari

3:05 PM FAMU and beyond: muonic atoms in fundamental and applied physics

The FAMU experiment, for the determination of the proton Zemach radius
exploiting muonic hydrogen, is discussed here. This experiment is led by INFN,
and it is currently in operation at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (UK).
New experiments of a similar nature could benefit from the availability of a
low momentum muon beam at JLab. In addition, the elemental and isotopic
analysis of samples by means of muonic atom formation is also discussed.

Speaker: Riccardo Rossini (University of Pavia & INFN Pavia)

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:00 PM → 5:40 PM Thursday Afternoon II

Convener: Michael Kohl (Hampton University)

4:00 PM Muon-philic dark matter search at the BDX facility

Speaker: Mariangela Bondì (INFN)

4:20 PM Cooling Demonstrator Program for the Muon Collider (remote)

Speaker: Diktys Stratakis

4:40 PM Muon beamlines at J-PARC MLF (remote)

The J-PARC muon facility is a pulsed muon beam facility located in the Material and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) at J-PARC. There are four muon beamlines and eight experimental areas. Users can utilize high-intensity positive muons with momenta ranging from 3 to 120 MeV/c and negative muons with momenta ranging from 3 to 50 MeV/c. Surface muon beams are used for material sciences using $\mu$SR, and negative muon beams are used for elemental analysis using muonic X-ray. The high-intensity muon beams also enable fundamental physics experiments using muon and muonium. In addition, a novel low-emittance muon beam is being developed by cooling surface muons down to 25 meV and re-accelerating them up to 212 MeV, which is intended for muon $g-2$/EDM experiment with a compact storage ring and transmission muon microscopy (T$\mu$M).

Speaker: Takayuki Yamazaki (KEK/J-PARC)

5:00 PM Collaborative NSF MRI Grants with Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

Primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) play a critical role in advancing scientific education and research by fostering hands-on learning and mentorship opportunities for students. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grants provide PUIs with access to state-of-the-art equipment, enabling cutting-edge research that would otherwise be financially unattainable. These grants enhance undergraduate training by preparing students for graduate studies and STEM careers. Faculty at PUIs benefit from MRI grants through increased research productivity and opportunities to collaborate with larger institutions. By funding specialized instrumentation, NSF MRI grants elevate the quality of research at PUIs, and in the case of a Beam Dump Facility, increase the involvement of a PUI at Jefferson Lab. In my talk, I will discuss my experience as a professor and researcher at a PUI and will share my vision of a collaborative NSF MRI with other PUI and R1 institutions.

Speaker: Michael Wood (Canisius College)

5:20 PM Brainstorming

Fri, September 5

9:00 AM → 10:25 AM Friday Morning I

Convener: Marco Battaglieri (JLab/INFNGE)

9:00 AM Probing neutrino interaction simulations with electron scattering data (remote)

Speaker: Júlia Tena-Vidal

9:25 AM Discussion on neutrino scattering in the BDX facility (remote)

Speakers: Adi Ashkenazi, Júlia Tena-Vidal

9:40 AM Overview of CERN secondary beam lines (remote)

Speaker: Dipanwita Banerjee

10:05 AM Physics Opportunities with Muon Beams from Low to High Energies

Speaker: Andrei Afanasev

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Coffee Break

11:00 AM → 12:15 PM Friday Morning II

Convener: Patrick Achenbach (Jefferson Lab)

11:00 AM Detector Technologies for beam-dump experiments at MESA and JLab (remote)

In this contribution, we present DarkMESA, a beam-dump experiment analogous to BDX, proposed for installation at the MESA accelerator.
DarkMESA is fully complementary to BDX and is designed to explore dark matter scenarios in the MeV mass range.
The technologies under investigation for DarkMESA may also find application in the planned Secondary Beams Facility at Jefferson Lab.
In particular, we discuss ongoing experiments and simulations involving calorimeters based on inorganic crystals, as well as novel opaque liquid scintillators for dark matter and neutrino detection.

Speaker: Luca Doria (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)

11:25 AM Muon physics infrastructure and program at PSI (remote)

Speaker: Klaus Kirch

11:50 AM Prospects for muon on electron scattering at JLab

Speaker: Michael Kohl

12:00 PM Possible muon beam lines for BDX

Speaker: Jay Benesch (JLab)

416mm_quad_report.pdf

BDX_abstract_benesch.pdf

muon_line_BDX_talk.pdf

12:15 PM → 1:30 PM Lunch Break

1:30 PM → 3:00 PM Facility Tour

1:30 p.m. Tour Safety Brief - Nina Ullrich, Tour Coordinator

1:35 p.m. Depart for Tour from CEBAF Center

1:45 p.m. Machine Control Center - Presenter: TBD

2:00 p.m. Depart for BDX Tent outside Exhibit Hall A, driving accelerator site

2:05 p.m. BDX Tent - Presenter: TBD

2:20 p.m. Depart for Test Lab

2:25 p.m. Test Lab - Presenter: TBD

2:55 p.m. Depart for CEBAF Center

Convener: Eric Christy

3:00 PM → 3:30 PM Coffee Break

3:30 PM → 5:00 PM Friday Afternoon

Convener: Mariangela Bondi (INFN)

3:30 PM Whitepaper Discussion