Determination of Chromaticity by the Measurement of Head-Tail Phase Shifts: Simulations, Results from the SPS and a Robustness Study for the LHC

The feasibility of chromaticity determination by measuring head-tail phase shifts has been shown both in the CERN-SPS and at HERA (DESY). These measurements, although verifying the technique, also raised some questions concerning its use for every day operation. This report includes the source of the missing constant factor that was found between theory and experiment, the consequences of the RF bucket deformation due to the acceleration in the SPS and detailed simulations and calculations on the LHC to estimate the accuracy of the head-tail chromaticity technique in the presence of other possible perturbations such as non-linear chromaticity, coupling and transverse impedance.