Limits on Failure Scenarios for Crab Cavities in the HL-LHC

The High Luminosity (HL) LHC upgrade aims for a tenfold increase in integrated luminosity compared to the nominal LHC, and for operation at a levelled luminosity of 5 10 34 cm 2 s 1 , which is five times higher than the nominal LHC peak luminosity. Crab Cavities (CCs) are planned to compensate the geometric luminosity loss created by the increased crossing angle by rotating the bunch, allowing quasi head-on collisions at the Interaction Points (IP). The CCs work by creating transverse kicks, and their failure may have short time constants comparable to the reaction time of the Machine Protection System (MPS), producing significant coherent betatron oscillations and fast emittance growth. Simulations of CC failure modes have been carried out with the tracking code SIXTRACK [1], using the newly added functionality called DYNK [2], which allows to dynamically change the attributes of the CCs. We describe these simulations and discuss early, preliminary results.