Beam studies for the Proton Improvement Plan (PIP) -- reducing beam loss at the Fermilab Booster

TL;DR

This paper discusses beam studies and upgrades at Fermilab's Booster to double the beam flux while maintaining low beam loss, involving detailed analysis and simulations to improve beam dynamics and operational systems.

Contribution

It presents recent beam study results and operational status, highlighting strategies to reduce beam loss during the Proton Improvement Plan upgrade.

Findings

Beam loss reduced by half through corrections and hardware upgrades

Enhanced understanding of beam loss mechanisms via simulations

Operational improvements enable doubling of beam flux at constant loss levels

Abstract

The Fermilab Booster is being upgraded under the Proton Improvement Plan (PIP) to be capable of providing a proton flux of $2.25^{17}$ protons per hour. The intensity per cycle will remain at the present operational $4.3^{12}$ protons per pulse, however the Booster beam cycle rate is going to be increased from 7.5 Hz to 15 Hz. One of the biggest challenges is to maintain the present beam loss power while the doubling the beam flux. Under PIP, there has been a large effort in beam studies and simulations to better understand the mechanisms of the beam loss. The goal is to reduce it by half by correcting and controlling the beam dynamics and by improving operational systems through hardware upgrades. This paper is going to present the recent beam study results and status of the Booster operations.