Status of the Proposal for a Superconducting Proton Linac at CERN

A superconducting proton linac delivering a mean beam power of 4 MW is being considered at CERN as a potential front end for the proton driver of a neutrino factory. Built mostly with the rf equipment to be recuperated from LEP after its decommissioning, it would provide H- ions at a kinetic energy of 2 GeV, which is adequate for the production of pions and muons. The requirements specific to a neutrino factory are summarized, and the basic design of such a linac-based proton driver is given. Subjects of further studies are outlined