Spin response formalism in circular accelerators

We present the principal features of the so-called “spin response formalism”, which is linear response theory applied to the spin dynamics in circular accelerators. The formalism is useful for calculating the resonance strengths of several classes of first-order spin resonances in rings, including those for spin flippers. We describe some of the successful applications of the formalism to various storage rings. We include a brief comparison with other formalisms and indicate topics for future work.