Use of transfer maps for modeling beam dynamics in a nonscaling fixed-field alternating-gradient accelerator

Abstract

Transfer maps for magnetic components are fundamental to studies of beam dynamics in accelerators. In the work presented here, transfer maps are computed in Taylor form for a particle moving through any specified magnetostatic field by applying an explicit symplectic integrator in a differential algebra code. The techniques developed are illustrated by their application to study the beam dynamics in the electron model for many applications (EMMA), the first nonscaling fixed-field alternating-gradient accelerator ever built. The EMMA lattice has 4 degrees of freedom (strength and transverse position of each of the two quadrupoles in each periodic cell). Transfer maps may be used to predict efficiently the dynamics in any lattice configuration. The transfer map is represented by a mixed variable generating function, obtained by interpolation between the maps for a set of reference configurations: use of mixed variable generating functions ensures the symplecticity of the map. An optimization routine uses the interpolation technique to look for a lattice defined by four constraints on the time of flight at different beam energies. This provides a way to determine the lattice configuration required to produce the desired dynamical characteristics. These tools are benchmarked against data from the recent EMMA commissioning.