Studies of the beam-beam interaction for the LHC

We have used the beam-beam simulation code CBI to study the beam-beam interaction for the LHC. We find that for nominal LHC parameters, and assuming only one bunch per beam, there are no collective (coherent) beam-beam instabilities. We have investigated the effect of sweeping one of the beams around the other (a procedure that could be used as a diagnostic for head-on beam-beam collisions), We find that this does not cause any problems at the nominal current, though at higher currents there can be beam blow-up and collective beam motion. (4 refs).