Touschek lifetime calculations and simulations for NSLS-II

The beam lifetime in most medium energy synchrotron radiation sources is limited by the Touschek effect, which describes the momentum transfer from the transverse into the longitudinal direction due to binary collisions between electrons. While an analytical formula exists to calculate the resulting lifetime, the actual momentum acceptance necessary to perform this calculation can only be determined by tracking. This is especially the case in the presence of small vertical apertures at insertion devices. In this case, nonlinear betatron coupling leads to beam losses at these vertical aperture restrictions. In addition, a realistic model of the storage ring is necessary for calculation of equilibrium beam sizes (particularly in the vertical direction) which are important for a self-consistent lifetime calculation.