Benchmark of Space Charge Simulations and Comparison with Experimental Results for High Intensity, Low Energy Accelerators

Space charge effects are a major contributor to beam halo and emittance growth leading to beam loss in high intensity, low energy accelerators. As future accelerators strive toward unprecedented levels of beam intensity and beam loss control, a more comprehensive understanding of space charge effects is required. A wealth of simulation tools have been developed for modeling beams in linacs and rings, and with the growing availability of high-speed computing systems, computationally expensive problems that were inconceivable a decade ago are now being handled with relative ease. This has opened the field for realistic simulations of space charge effects, including detailed benchmarks with experimental data. A great deal of effort is being focused in this direction, and several recent benchmark studies have produced remarkably successful results. This paper reviews the achievements in space charge benchmarking in the last few years, and discusses challenges that remain.

INTRODUCTION

Recently, a great deal of effort has been dedicated to benchmarking space charge simulations with experimental data. Whereas a decade ago realistic benchmarks of this type were virtually nonexistent, nowadays rigorous benchmarking of space charge algorithms is routine practice for simulation codes which model high intensity, low energy accelerators. Additionally, the last few years have marked an important transition from qualitative to quantitative benchmarks, and many successful quantitative benchmarks have been achieved for a variety of machine parameters.