Optics considerations for lowering transition energy in the SPS

Beam stability for high intensity LHC beams in the SPS can be improved by increasing the slippage factor, i.e. reducing the transition energy. In this paper, possible ways of modifying the optics of the SPS for lower transition energy are reviewed. In particular, a threefold increase of the slippage factor at injection can be achieved by decreasing the integer part of the tunes by 6 units. The properties of this new low-transition optics are compared with the nominal SPS optics, including working point and resonance behavior. Possible limitations are discussed.