Beam-based measurements of persistent current decay in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Abstract

The two rings of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider are equipped with superconducting dipole magnets. At injection, induced persistent currents in these magnets lead to a sextupole component. As the persistent currents decay with time, the horizontal and vertical chromaticities change. From magnet measurements of persistent current decays, chromaticity changes in the machine are estimated and compared with chromaticity measurements.