The transition jump system for the AGS

In an attempt to generate a lossless crossing of an accelerator's transition energy, one procedure is to alter the transition energy of the accelerator quickly as the beam passes through this energy region by changing the optics of the lattice-a so-called "transition jump", or "/spl gamma//sub t/-jump" scheme. Such a system was first implemented at CERN and later adopted at other accelerator laboratories. A scheme for the AGS was developed in 1986. The system has become operational during the 1994 high intensity proton run. It consists of three quadrupole doublets, each magnet having an individual power supply and crowbar circuit. After a brief theoretical description of the jump system for the AGS, we describe the engineering aspects of the hardware and our experience with the system during its commissioning.