Observation of a Second-Order Spin-Depolarizing Resonance

A recent experiment using a 160 MeV stored spin-polarized proton beam found clear evidence for a second-order intrinsic depolarizing resonance. With a 20% partial Siberian snake, we studied a first-order intrinsic depolarizing resonance; we then discovered and studied the second-order depolarizing resonance by changing both the horizontal and vertical betatron tunes. As expected, this second-order resonance is much weaker than the first-order resonance; it is probably due to sextupole fields plus coupling between the horizontal and vertical betatron oscillations caused by the 20% snake.