Kinetic equilibrium of space charge dominated beams in a misaligned quadrupole focusing channel

Abstract

The dynamics of intense beam propagation through the misaligned quadrupole focusing channel has been studied in a self-consistent manner using nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell equations. The equations of motion of the beam centroid have been developed and found to be independent of any specific beam distribution. A Vlasov equilibrium distribution and beam envelope equations have been obtained, which provide us a theoretical tool to investigate the dynamics of intense beam propagating in a misaligned quadrupole focusing channel. It is shown that the displaced quadrupoles only cause the centroid of the beam to wander off axis. The beam envelope around the centroid obeys the familiar Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij envelope equation that is independent of the centroid motion. However, the rotation of the quadrupole about its optical axis affects the beam envelope and causes an increase in the projected emittances in the two transverse planes due to the inter-plane coupling.