Simulation of beam-electron cloud interactions in circular accelerators using plasma models

In this paper we study the effect of low-density electron clouds on intense positively charged beams in circular accelerators. We apply one of the simulation tools we have been developing for the study of plasma-based accelerators to the problem of wake production and beam propagation in electron clouds. Particularly, we apply it to the electron cloud wakefields in the SPS proton synchrotron at CERN. We explore physics of beam-electron cloud interactions, particularly we present results on electron cloud effects on the long term beam dynamics. We present simulation results on the effects of bending magnets on the beam centroid oscillation, spot size and compare them to the case where bending magnets are not present