Simulations on the AGS horizontal tune jump mechanism

A new horizontal tune jump mechanism has been proposed to overcome the horizontal intrinsic resonances and preserve the polarization of the proton beam in the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) during the energy ramp. An adiabatic change of the AGS lattice is needed to avoid the emittance growth in both horizontal and vertical planes, as the emittance growth can deteriorate the polarization of the proton beam. Two critical questions are necessary to be answered: how fast can the lattice be changed and how much emittance growth can be tolerated from both optics and polarization points of view? Preliminary simulations, using a realistic AGS lattice and acceleration rate, have been carried out to give a first glance of this mechanism. Results with different optics are presented in this paper.