A near-integer working point for polarized protons in the relativistic heavy ion collider

To achieve the RHIC polarized proton enhanced luminosity goal of 150 - 10³⁰ cm^-2sec^-1 on average in stores at 250 GeV, the luminosity needs to be increased by a factor of 3 compared to what was achieved in 2006. Since the number of bunches is already at its maximum of 111, limited by the injection kickers and the experiments´ time resolution, the luminosity can only be increased by either increasing the bunch intensity and/or reducing the beam emittance. This leads to a larger beam-beam tuneshift parameter. Operations during 2006 has shown that the beam-beam interaction is already dominating the luminosity lifetime. To overcome this limitation, a near-integer working point is under study. We will present recent results of these studies.