Studies of the front end of a neutrino factory

A neutrino factory employs muons which are produced, collected, cooled, accelerated and then stored so that their eventual decay produces an intense neutrino beam. In this contribution, we use analytic and numerical tools to investigate the performance of the front end of a neutrino factory. This region starts just after the target and ends just prior to the recirculating accelerators. Extensive previous work has resulted in designs used in the Fermilab Study of 1999-2000 and the Brookhaven Study of 2000-2001. Here we explore variations away from these particular designs, seeking possible improvements in final muon output, risk reduction, and ultimate cost. Our studies include changes in the overall front end geometry through optimization of the induction linac design and variations of the rf frequency in the cooling channel acceleration, and initial exploration of the use of helical wiggler fields to increase the range of initial muon energies that are captured