An algorithm to calculate the beam momentum distribution from flying wire profiles

Horizontal flying wire measurements give beam profiles from which information about the beam momentum distribution and betatron distribution can be extracted. When calculating these beam characteristics in the past, for the matter of simplicity, the beam has been assumed Gaussian. For beam profiles which may not be Gaussian, an algorithm to obtain the general beam momentum distribution is developed using the Fourier transform to the beam profiles. Since the profile is the convolution of the momentum distribution and the betatron distribution, using a Fourier transform method makes calculations easier. 6 figs