Preface
This volume provides an introduction to the physics of beams. This field
touches many other areas of physics, engineering and the sciences, and in
turn benefits from numerous techniques also used in other disciplines. In
general terms, beams describe ensembles of particles with initial conditions
similar enough to be treated together as a group, so that the motion is a
weakly nonlinear perturbation of that of a chosen reference particle.
Applications of particle beams are very wide, including electron microscopes, particle spectrometers, medical irradiation facilities, powerful light
sources, astrophysics – to name a few – and reach all the way to the largest
scientific instruments built by man, namely, large colliders like LHC at CERN.
The text is based on lectures given at Michigan State University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, the online VUBeam program, the US Particle
Accelerator School, the CERN Academic Training Programme, and various
other venues. Selected additional material is included to round out the presentation and cover other significant topics.
The material is at a level to be accessible to students of physics, mathematics and engineering at the beginning graduate or upper division undergraduate
level and can be viewed as an introductory companion to the more advanced
Modern Map Methods in Particle Beam Physics by M. B., published by Academic Press. Emphasis has been placed on showing major concepts in their
original incarnations and through historic figures. Finally, some of the sections and chapters that contain more advanced material are marked by a *
symbol and can be omitted in a first reading.
Many organizations and individuals have helped directly and indirectly at
various stages in the development of this book. MSU’s Physics and Astronomy
Department provided an environment of support for this and other books, the
VUBeam program, as well as many of our other activities.
For two decades of continuous financial support that were instrumental
to the success of the book, the VUBeam program, and indeed much of our
research, we are grateful to the US Department of Energy, and in particular to
Dr. Dave Sutter, the long-term coordinator of their beam physics activities.
K. M. would like to thank her daughter Kazuko for her own great interest
in physics and science and much encouragement during the finalization of this
text.
W. W. would like to thank Dr. D. Robin for his encouragement, Dr. E.
Forest for stimulating discussions on various aspects of beam dynamics such
as normal form theory, and his wife Juxiang Teng for her unwavering support
xiii
This volume provides an introduction to the physics of beams. This field
touches many other areas of physics, engineering and the sciences, and in
turn benefits from numerous techniques also used in other disciplines. In
general terms, beams describe ensembles of particles with initial conditions
similar enough to be treated together as a group, so that the motion is a
weakly nonlinear perturbation of that of a chosen reference particle.
Applications of particle beams are very wide, including electron microscopes, particle spectrometers, medical irradiation facilities, powerful light
sources, astrophysics – to name a few – and reach all the way to the largest
scientific instruments built by man, namely, large colliders like LHC at CERN.
The text is based on lectures given at Michigan State University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, the online VUBeam program, the US Particle
Accelerator School, the CERN Academic Training Programme, and various
other venues. Selected additional material is included to round out the presentation and cover other significant topics.
The material is at a level to be accessible to students of physics, mathematics and engineering at the beginning graduate or upper division undergraduate
level and can be viewed as an introductory companion to the more advanced
Modern Map Methods in Particle Beam Physics by M. B., published by Academic Press. Emphasis has been placed on showing major concepts in their
original incarnations and through historic figures. Finally, some of the sections and chapters that contain more advanced material are marked by a *
symbol and can be omitted in a first reading.
Many organizations and individuals have helped directly and indirectly at
various stages in the development of this book. MSU’s Physics and Astronomy
Department provided an environment of support for this and other books, the
VUBeam program, as well as many of our other activities.
For two decades of continuous financial support that were instrumental
to the success of the book, the VUBeam program, and indeed much of our
research, we are grateful to the US Department of Energy, and in particular to
Dr. Dave Sutter, the long-term coordinator of their beam physics activities.
K. M. would like to thank her daughter Kazuko for her own great interest
in physics and science and much encouragement during the finalization of this
text.
W. W. would like to thank Dr. D. Robin for his encouragement, Dr. E.
Forest for stimulating discussions on various aspects of beam dynamics such
as normal form theory, and his wife Juxiang Teng for her unwavering support
xiii