The Effect of Magnetic Field Errors on Dynamical Friction in Electron Coolers

A proposed luminosity upgrade to the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) includes a novel electron cooling section [1], which would use ∼55 MeV electrons to cool fully-ionized 100 GeV/nucleon gold ions. A strong (1-5 T) solenoidal field will be used to magnetize the electrons and thus enhance the dynamical friction force on the ions. The physics of magnetized friction is being simulated for RHIC parameters [2,3,4], using the VORPAL code [5]. Most theoretical treatments for magnetized dynamical friction do not consider the effect of magnetic field errors, except in a parametric fashion. However, field errors can in some cases dramatically reduce the velocity drag and corresponding cooling rate. We present two simple analytical models for the magnetic field errors. The simulated dynamical friction for the case of a perfect solenoidal field is compared with results from these new models. We simulate parameters for the existing cooler of the CELSIUS ring, because recent experiments [6] provide data that will later be used for code validation.