arXiv subjects

J. K. Jones

Publications and source records attributed to J. K. Jones.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Closing the Loop: Deploying Auto-Generating Digital Twins for Particle Accelerators

The simulation of a physical system in a virtual replica, known as a digital twin, is a useful way to interrogate the system non-invasively, providing the ability to perform predictive maintenance and surveillance, and to investigate potential novel configurations without perturbing the system. This article presents the implementation of an auto-generating digital twin architecture for particle accelerators: a virtual control system is generated to mirror the physical accelerator hardware, and used to update a simulation model which then feeds back the results into virtual diagnostics. All of the information about the accelerator lattice is cascaded down from a ground source of truth, removing any ambiguity about the naming of parameters between the simulation model and the virtual hardware. This design is modular and extensible, allowing researchers from different institutions to use their own models (for example, a machine learning model) and accelerator lattices while maintaining the overall structural coherence of the digital twin. This architecture has been tested for three accelerator facilities \textendash~CLARA, the ISIS injector, and the proposed UK XFEL \textendash~and aims to provide the foundation for a collaborative community effort in the development of shared technology towards a generic digital twin solution.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2026

A flexible start-to-end simulation framework for particle accelerators based on a comprehensive lattice description

Standardization of data formats in a scientific discipline brings a range of benefits to researchers, as it enables the sharing of workflows and solutions to common problems, provides the foundation for generically useful tools that can be applied across the field, and gives a basis for cross-checking and validation that can be understood by all. Owing to the wide range of possible modes of description of particle accelerator lattices, a standard solution to this problem has not yet been developed for the field, although efforts are underway across the community. This article presents a schema for a comprehensive and generic format for describing particle accelerator lattices, encompassing physical element information, simulation code-specific parameters, control system variables, electrical and magnetic data, and other parameters, for each element. A translation layer is also provided in order to export this lattice into formats suitable for a variety of standard accelerator simulation codes. Based on this format, a framework has been developed for generating, tracking and analyzing beams through the lattice, providing a seamless transfer between simulation codes and the basis for a fully generic start-to-end simulation framework.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2025

Controls Abstraction Towards Accelerator Physics: A Middle Layer Python Package for Particle Accelerator Control

Control system middle layers act as a co-ordination and communication bridge between end users, including operators, system experts, scientists, and experimental users, and the low-level control system interface. This article describes a Python package -- Controls Abstraction Towards Acclerator Physics (CATAP) -- which aims to build on previous experience and provide a modern Python-based middle layer with explicit abstraction, YAML-based configuration, and procedural code generation. CATAP provides a structured and coherent interface to a control system, allowing researchers and operators to centralize higher-level control logic and device information. This greatly reduces the amount of code that a user must write to perform a task, and codifies system knowledge that is usually anecdotal. The CATAP design has been deployed at two accelerator facilities, and has been developed to produce a procedurally generated facility-specific middle layer package from configuration files to enable its wider dissemination across other machines.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2025

Recovery of hydrogen plasma at the sub-nanosecond timescale in a plasma-wakefield accelerator

Plasma wakefield acceleration revolutionized the field of particle accelerators by generating gigavolt-per-centimeter fields. To compete with conventional radio-frequency (RF) accelerators, plasma technology must demonstrate operation at high repetition rates, with a recent research showing feasibility at megahertz levels using an Argon source that recovered after about 60 ns. Here we report about a proof-of-principle experiment that demonstrates the recovery of a Hydrogen plasma at the sub-nanosecond timescale. The result is obtained with a pump-and-probe setup and has been characterized for a wide range of plasma densities. We observed that large plasma densities reestablish their initial state soon after the injection of the pump beam (< 0.7 ns). Conversely, at lower densities we observe the formation of a local dense plasma channel affecting the probe beam dynamics even at long delay times (> 13 ns). The results are supported with numerical simulations and represent a step forward for the next-generation of compact high-repetition rate accelerators.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2023

Specification and design for Full Energy Beam Exploitation of the Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications

The Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications (CLARA) is a 250 MeV ultrabright electron beam test facility at STFC Daresbury Laboratory. A user beam line has been designed to maximise exploitation of CLARA in a variety of fields, including novel acceleration and new modalities of radiotherapy. In this paper we present the specification and design of this beam line for Full Energy Beam Exploitation (FEBE). We outline the key elements which provide users to access ultrashort, low emittance electron bunches in two large experiment chambers. The results of start-to-end simulations are reported which verify the expected beam parameters delivered to these chambers. Key technical systems are detailed, including those which facilitate combination of electron bunches with high power laser pulses.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2016

Amplitude dependent orbital period in alternating gradient accelerators

Orbital period in a ring accelerator and time of flight in a linear accelerator depend on the amplitude of betatron oscillations. The variation is negligible in ordinary particle accelerators with relatively small beam emittance. In an accelerator for large emittance beams like muons and unstable nuclei, however, this effect cannot be ignored. We measured orbital period in a linear non-scaling fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator, which is a candidate for muon acceleration, and compared with the theoretical prediction. The good agreement between them gives important ground for the design of particle accelerators for a new generation of particle and nuclear physics experiments.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2014

Analytical expressions for fringe fields in multipole magnets

Fringe fields in multipole magnets can have a variety of effects on the linear and nonlinear dynamics of particles moving along an accelerator beamline. An accurate model of an accelerator must include realistic models of the magnet fringe fields. Fringe fields for dipoles are well understood and can be modelled at an early stage of accelerator design in such codes as MAD8, MADX or ELEGANT. However, usually it is not until the final stages of a design project that it is possible to model fringe fields for quadrupoles or higher order multipoles. Even then, existing techniques rely on the use of a numerical field map, which will usually not be available until the magnet design is well developed. Substitutes for the full field map exist but these are typically based on expansions about the origin and rely heavily on the assumption that the beam travels more or less on axis throughout the beam line. In some types of machine (for example, a non-scaling FFAG such as EMMA) this is not a good assumption. In this paper, a method for calculating fringe fields based on analytical expressions is presented, which allows fringe field effects to be included at the start of an accelerator design project. The magnetostatic Maxwell equations are solved analytically and a solution that fits all orders of multipoles derived. Quadrupole fringe fields are considered in detail as these are the ones that give the strongest effects. Two examples of quadrupole fringe fields are presented. The first example is a magnet in the LHC inner triplet, which consists of a set of four quadrupoles providing the final focus to the beam, just before the interaction point. Quadrupoles in EMMA provide the second example. In both examples, the analytical expressions derived in this paper for quadrupole fringe fields provide a good approximation to the field maps obtained from a numerical magnet modelling code.

physics.acc-ph↗