Illustration of bunch merge simulation in RHIC
Following are examples of a 4 to 2 to 1 merge of proton bunches in RHIC obtained by running the simulation code rhic2mrg23. As the code runs, the user is prompted to enter several numbers. For these examples, RF harmonic number 1440.0 is entered. An RF frequency of 112.597 696 626 MHz at this harmonic is entered. This gives a proton energy of 100 GeV. The merge simulation starts with a uniform distribution of unbunched protons. 2.0 eV-s is entered for the longitudinal emittance of the distribution. The code will recommend a voltage to capture the unbunched protons into 4 harmonic 1440 buckets. A capture voltage of 142.390 kV is recommended. 144.0 kV is entered. It is desirable to capture the protons as “adiabatically” as possible. A capture time of 3318 ms is recommended by the code. 3320.0 ms is entered. A 4 to 2 merge time of 1659 ms is recommended by the code. 1660.0 ms is entered. A 2 to 1 merge time twice that of the 4 to 2 merge is recommended by the code. 3320.0 ms is entered. The code requests a “time fraction” FQMRG to be entered. This is a number (from 0.1 to 1.0) that determines the time at which data are recorded during the 4 to 2 merge. The number 0.5 is entered. This encodes the recording of data halfway through the 4 to 2 merge.