Studies on Controlled RF Noise for the LHC

RF phase noise is purposely injected into the LHC 400 MHz RF system during the acceleration ramp for controlled longitudinal emittance blow-up, in order to maintain longitudinal beam stability. Although the operational blow-up works reliably, studies of the injected RF noise are desirable not only to allow for a better-controlled, more flexible blow-up, but also for other applications such as the mitigation of machine-component heating through appropriate bunch shaping. Concerning the noise injection, an alternative algorithm was developed and implemented in the hardware, but first tests revealed unexpected modulation of the achieved bunch length along the ring, and subsequently, theoretical studies have been launched. In this paper, we present a summary of ongoing measurement analysis and simulation studies that shall explain previous observations, predict what can be expected in different cases, and thus help to optimise the RF noise in general.