The Gamma Factory proposal for CERN

Abstract

This contribution discusses  the possibility  of broadening the present CERN research programme by a
new component making use of  a  novel  concept of the  light source. The proposed,  
Partially Stripped Ion beam driven,  light source is the backbone of  the Gamma Factory initiative.  
It could  be realised at CERN by using  the  infrastructure of the already existing accelerators.
It could  push the  intensity limits of the presently operating  light-sources by at least 7 orders of magnitude,
reaching the flux of  the order of $10^{17}$ photons/s,  in the particularly interesting $\gamma$-ray  energy
domain of \mbox{ $1 \le E_{photon} \le 400$  MeV.}   This domain is out of  reach for the FEL-based light sources
based on  sub-TeV energy-range electron beams.  The unprecedented-intensity, energy-tuned,  
quasi-monochromatic gamma  beams,  together with the gamma-beams-driven secondary
beams of polarised positrons, polarised muons, neutrinos, neutrons and radioactive ions would constitute  the
basic research tools of the proposed Gamma Factory. A broad spectrum of new  opportunities,  in a vast domain of uncharted
fundamental and applied physics territories,  could be opened by the Gamma Factory research programme.