Non-linear Coupling Studies in the LHC

The amplitude detuning has been observed to decrease significantly as the horizontal and vertical tunes are approaching each other. This effect is potentially harmful since it might cause a loss of Landau damping, hence giving rise to instabilities. The measured tune split (Qx-Qy) versus amplitude is several times bigger than what can be explained with linear coupling. In this paper we present studies performed to identify the dominant sources of the non-linear coupling observed in the LHC.