BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
RHIC operation as the polarized proton collider presents unique challenges since both luminosity and spin polarization are important. With longitudinally polarized beams at the experiments, the figure of merit is LP4. A lot of upgrades and modifications have been made since last polarized proton operation. A 9 MHz rf system has been installed to improve longitudinal match at injection and to increase luminosity. The beam dumps were upgraded to allow for increased bunch intensities. A vertical survey of RHIC was performed before the run to get better magnet alignment. The orbit control has also been improved this year. Additional efforts were put in to improve source polarization and AGS polarization transfer efficiency. To preserve polarization on the ramp, a new working point was chosen such that the vertical tune is near a third order resonance. The overview of the changes and the operation results are presented in this paper.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
Head-on beam-beam compensation is adopted to compensate the large beam-beam tune spread from the proton-proton interactions at IP6 and IP8 in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Two e-lenses are being built and to be in stalled near IP10 in the end of 2011. In this article we perform numeric simulation to investigate the effect of the electron beam parameters on the proton dynamics. The electron beam parameters include its transverse profile, size, current, offset and random errors in them.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
An electron lens for head-on beam-beam compensation planned for RHIC requires precise overlap of the electron and proton beams which both can have down to 0.3 mm rms transverse radial widths along the 2m long interaction region. Here we describe a new diagnostic tool that is being considered to aid in the tuning and verification of this overlap. Some of ultra relativistic protons (100 or 250 GeV) colliding with low energy electrons (2 to 10 keV) will transfer sufficient transverse momentum to cause the electrons to spiral around the magnetic guiding field in a way that will make them detectable outside of the main solenoid. Time-of-flight of the halo electron signals will provide position-sensitive information along the overlap region. Scattering cross sections are calculated and counting rate estimates are presented as function of electron energy and detector position.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
As a part of the proposed electron lens system for RHIC, two 6 T, 200 mm aperture, 2.5 meter long superconducting solenoids are being designed and built at BNL. Because of several demanding requirements this has become a unique and technologically advanced magnet. For example, the field lines on axis must be straight over the length of the solenoid within ±50 microns. Since this is beyond the normal construction techniques, a correction package becomes an integral part of the design for which a new design has been developed. In addition, a minimum of 0.3 T field is required along the electron beam trajectory in the space between magnets. To achieve this fringe field superconducting solenoidal coils have been added at the two ends of the main solenoid. The main solenoid itself is a challenging magnet because of the high Lorentz forces and stored energy associated with the large aperture and high fields. An innovative structure has been developed to deal with the large axial forces at the ends. This paper will summarize the magnetic design and optimization of the entire package consisting of the main solenoid, the fringe field solenoids, and the corrector system.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
We are designing two electron lenses (E-lens) to compensate for the large beam-beam tune spread from proton-proton interactions at IP6 and IP8 in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). They will be installed in RHIC IR10. First, the layout of these two E-lenses is introduced. Then the effects of e-lenses on proton beam are discussed. For example, the transverse fields of the e-lens bending solenoids and the fringe field of the main solenoids will shift the proton beam. For the effects of the e-lens on proton beam trajectory, we calculate the transverse kicks that the proton beam receives in the electron lens via Opera at first. Then, after incorporating the simplified E-lens lattice in the RHIC lattice, we obtain the closed orbit effect with the Simtrack Code.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
We designed two electron lenses to apply head-on beam-beam compensation for RHIC; they will be installed near IP10. The electron-beam transport system is an important subsystem of the entire electron-lens system. Electrons are transported from the electron gun to the main solenoid and further to the collector. The system must allow for changes of the electron beam size inside the superconducting magnet, and for changes of the electron position by 5 mm in the horizontal- and vertical-planes.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
A research and development work is on going toward the upgrade of the RHIC Injection Fast Kicker System. We report here the proposed nano-second pulse generator, the initial test result, the options of the deflector design, injection pattern, and the benefit to the future RHIC programs.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
To increase luminosity in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider’s (RHIC’s) polarized proton 250 GeV operations, we are considering reducing beta* to 0.65 m at the interaction points (IPs), and increasing bunch intensity. The new working point near the 2/3 integer will used on the ramp to preserve polarization. In addition, we plan to adjust the betatron-phase advances between IP6 and IP8 to (k+1/2)*PI so to lower the dynamic beta-beat from the beam-beam interaction. The effects of all these changes will impact the dynamic aperture, and hence, it must be evaluated carefully. In this article, we present the results of tracking the dynamic aperture with the proposed lattices.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
Two electron lenses are under construction for RHIC to partially compensate the head-on beam-beam effect in order to increase both the peak and average luminosity. The final design of the overall system is reported as well as the status of the component design, acquisition, and manufacturing.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
In this article we perform simulation studies to investigate the effects of betatron phase advances between the beam-beam interaction points on half-integer resonance driving terms, second order chromaticity and dynamic aperture in RHIC. The betatron phase advances are adjusted with artificial matrices inserted in the middle of arcs. The lattices for 2011 polarized proton (p-p) run and 2010 RHIC Au-Au runs are used in this study. We also scan the betatron phase advances between IP8 and the electron lens for the proposed Blue ring lattice with head-on beam-beam compensation.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
In this article we will answer the following questions: 1) what is the source of second order chromaticities in RHIC? 2) what is the dependence of second order chromaticity on the on-momentum β-beat? 3) what is the dependence of second order chromaticity on β* at IP6 and IP8? To answer these questions, we use the perturbation theory to numerically calculate the contributions of each quadrupole and sextupole to the first, second, and third order chromaticities. Possible methods to locally reduce chromatic effects in RHIC rings are shortly discussed.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
Beam experiments have been performed in RHIC to determine some key parameters of the RHIC electron lenses, and to test the capability of verifying lattice modifications by beam measurements. We report the status and recent results of these experiments.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
The low-energy physics program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), motivated by a search for the QCD phase transition critical point, requires operation at low energies. At these energies, large nonlinear magnetic field errors and large beam sizes produce low beam lifetimes. A variety of beam dynamics effects such as Intrabeam Scattering (IBS), space charge and beam-beam forces also contribute. All these effects are important to understand beam lifetime limitations in RHIC at low energies. During the low-energy RHIC physics run in May-June 2010 at beam γ=6.1 and γ=4.1, gold beam lifetimes were measured for various values of space-charge tune shifts, transverse acceptance limitation by collimators, synchrotron tunes and RF voltage. This paper summarizes our observations and initial findings.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
Two electron lenses for a head-on beam-beam compensation are being planned for RHIC; one for each circulating proton beam. The transverse profile of the electron beam will be Gaussian up to a maximum radius of re=3σ. Simulations and design of the electron gun with Gaussian radial emission current density profile and of the electron collector are presented. Ions of the residual gas generated in the interaction region by electron and proton beams will be removed by an axial gradient of the electric field towards the electron collector. A method of optical observation the transverse profile of the electron beam is described.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
As the worlds’s first high energy polarized proton col- lider, RHIC has made significant progresses in measuring the proton spin structure in the past decade. In order to have better understanding of the contribution of u quark and d quark to the proton spin structure, collisions of high energy polarized neutron beams are required. In this paper, we discuss the perspectives of accelerating polarized light ions, like deuteron, Helium-3 and tritium. We also repre- sent simulation studies of accelerating polarized Helium-3 in RHIC.
Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY 11973
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
It has been speculated that the beam may cause instability of the RHIC Beam Abort Kickers. In this study, we explore the available data of past beam operations, the device history of key modulator components, and the radiation patterns to examine the correlations.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
As part of the search for a phase transition or critical point on the QCD phase diagram, an energy scan including 5 different energy settings was performed during the 2010 RHIC heavy ion run. While the top beam energy for heavy ions is at 100 GeV/n and the lowest achieved energy setpoint was significantly below RHICs injection energy of approximately 10 GeV/n, we also provided beams for data taking in a medium energy range above injection energy and below top beam energy. This paper reviews RHIC experience and challenges for RHIC medium energy operations that produced full experimental data sets at beam energies of 31.2 GeV/n and 19.5 GeV/n.