Pion-Muon Concentrating System for Detectors of Highly Enriched Uranium

One of many possible applications of low-energy antiprotons collected in a Penning trap can be a portable muon source. Released antiprotons annihilate on impact with normal matter producing on average about three charged pions per antiproton, which in turn decay into muons. Existence of such negative-muon sources of sufficient intensity would be useful for detection and enrichment determination of highly enriched uranium based on muonic X-rays. We explore options of collecting and focusing pions and resulting muons to enhance the muon flux toward an object of interest. Simulations with MARS and MAFIA are used to choose the target material and parameters of the magnetic system of a few solenoids.