The application of the SXF lattice description and the UAL software environment to the analysis of the LHC

A software environment for accelerator modeling has been developed which includes the UAL (Unified Accelerator Library), a collection of accelerator physics libraries with a Perl interface for scripting, and the SXF (Standard eX-change Format), a format for accelerator description which extends the MAD sequence by including deviations from design values. SXF interfaces have been written for several programs, including MAD9 and MAD8 via the doom database, Cosy, TevLat and UAL itself, which includes Teapot++. After an overview of the software we describe the application of the tools to the analysis of the LHC lattice stability, in the presence of alignment and coupling errors, and to the correction of the first turn and closed orbit in the machine. (7 refs)

Beam Based Measurements of Field Multipoles in the RHIC Low Beta Insertions and Extrapolation of the Method to the LHC

The multipolar content of the dipoles and quadrupoles is known to limit the stability of the beam dynamics in super-conducting machines like RHIC and even more in LHC. The low-beta quadrupoles are thus equipped with correcting coils up to the dodecapole order. The correction is planned to rely on magnetic measurements. We show that a relatively simple method allows an accurate measurement of the multipolar field aberrations using the beam. The principle is to displace the beam in the non-linear fields by local closed orbit bumps and to measure the variation of sensitive beam observable. The resolution and robustness of the method are found appropriate. Experimentation at RHIC showed clearly the presence of normal and skew sextupolar field components in addition to a skew quadrupolar component in the interaction regions. Higher-order components up to decapole order appear as well

RHIC heavy ion operations performance

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) completed its fifth year of operation in 2005, colliding copper ion beams with ps=200 GeV/u and 62.4 GeV/u[1]. Previous heavy ion runs have collided gold ions at ps=130 GeV/u, 200 GeV/u, and 62.4 GeV/u[2], and deuterons and gold ions at ps=200 GeV/u[3]. This paper discusses operational performance statistics of this facility, including Cu- Cu delivered luminosity, availability, calendar time spent in physics stores, and time between physics stores. We summarize the major factors affecting operations efficiency, and characterize machine activities between physics stores

Extrasolar Trojan Planets close to Habitable Zones

We investigate the stability regions of hypothetical terrestrial planets around the Lagrangian equilibrium points L4 and L5 in some specific extrasolar planetary systems. The problem of their stability can be treated in the framework of the restricted three body problem where the host star and a massive Jupiter-like planet are the primary bodies and the terrestrial planet is regarded as being massless. From these theoretical investigations one cannot determine the extension of the stable zones around the equilibrium points. Using numerical experiments we determined their largeness for three test systems chosen from the table of the know extrasolar planets, where a giant planet is moving close to the so-called habitable zone around the host star in low eccentric orbits. The results show the dependence of the size and structure of this region, which shrinks significantly with the eccentricity of the known gas giant.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to A&

A study of the stability regions in the planetary system HD 74156 - Can it host earthlike planets in habitable zones?

Using numerical methods we thoroughly investigate the dynamical stability in the region between the two planets found in HD 74156. The two planets with minimum masses 1.56 M_JUP (HD 74156b) and 7.5 M_JUP (HD 74156c), semimajor axes 0.276 AU and 3.47 AU move on quite eccentric orbits (e=0.649 and 0.395). There is a region between 0.7 and 1.4 AU which may host additional planets which we checked via numerical integrations using different dynamical models. Besides the orbital evolution of several thousands of massless regarded planets in a three-dimensional restricted 4-body problem (host star, two planets + massless bodies) we also have undertaken test computation for the orbital evolution for fictive planets with masses of 0.1, 0.3 and 1 M_JUP in the region between HD74156b and HD74156c. For direct numerical integrations up to 10^7 years we used the Lie-integrator, a method with adaptive stepsize; additionally we used the Fast Lyapunov Indicators as tool for detecting chaotic motion in this region. We emphasize the important role of the inner resonances (with the outer planet) and the outer resonances (with the inner planet) with test bodies located inside the resonances. In these two "resonance" regions almost no orbits survive. The region between the 1:5 outer resonance (0.8 AU) and the 5:1 inner resonance (1.3 AU), just in the right position for habitability, is also very unstable probably due to three-body-resonances acting there. Our results do not strictly "forbid" planets to move there, but the existence of a planet on a stable orbit between 0.8 and 1.3 AU is unlikely.Comment: submitted to A&A, 4 pages, 5 figure

Preparing accelerator systems for the RHIC sextant commissioning

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) construction is progressing steadily towards completion in 1999 when beams will circulate in both collider rings. One of the major tests of the RHIC project was the commissioning of the first sextant with gold ion beams in early 1997. This is a report on preparation of the RHIC accelerator systems for the first sextant test. It includes beam position monitors, timing, injection correction through the magnetic septum and kickers, current transformers, flags and the ionization beam profile monitors, beam loss monitors, beam and quench permit link system, power supply controls, and the configuration database system. The software and hardware development and coordination of the different systems before commissioning were regularly checked during bi-weekly, and (later) weekly, progress report meetings

Planets in habitable zones: A study of the binary Gamma Cephei

The recently discovered planetary system in the binary GamCep was studied concerning its dynamical evolution. We confirm that the orbital parameters found by the observers are in a stable configuration. The primary aim of this study was to find stable planetary orbits in a habitable region in this system, which consists of a double star (a=21.36 AU) and a relatively close (a=2.15 AU) massive (1.7 Mjup sin i) planet. We did straightforward numerical integrations of the equations of motion in different dynamical models and determined the stability regions for a fictitious massless planet in the interval of the semimajor axis 0.5 AU < a < 1.85 AU around the more massive primary. To confirm the results we used the Fast Lyapunov Indicators (FLI) in separate computations, which are a common tool for determining the chaoticity of an orbit. Both results are in good agreement and unveiled a small island of stable motions close to 1 AU up to an inclination of about 15 deg (which corresponds to the 3:1 mean motion resonance between the two planets). Additionally we computed the orbits of earthlike planets (up to 90 earthmasses) in the small stable island and found out, that there exists a small window of stable orbits on the inner edge of the habitable zone in GamCep even for massive planets.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, changed 2 references made minor changes due to referees advic

RHIC tracking studies with real magnets in real places

Results from RHIC tracking studies in which measured magnetic field errors are used in all arc magnets are reported. the dependence of betatron tunes on initial amplitudes, aspect ratio, and momentum are reported and are not significantly different from measured tune dependences when randomly generated magnetic field errors are used in all magnets. Survival plots at injection and storage are also consistent with previous determinations