Acceleration Cycles for the LHC Proton Beam in the SPS

A magnetic cycle for the SPS, having a shorter acceleration time than that used at present for the nominal LHC beam cycle, has been designed. This cycle consists of 7 different parts, all described by parabolas, satisfying different criteria coming from the voltage and power limitations in the main dipoles and 200 MHz RF system, as well as from beam dynamics considerations. We plan to test this cyle in 2006 first with the LHC pilot beam, for which the cycle length will be 33% less than the present 10.8 s long cycle. With LHC in operation, this should increase the available flux of protons to other SPS users. Later the possibility of using this cycle for higher intensity beam should also be verified experimentally. The expected reduction of the LHC filling time is 15%.