Modeling Short Range Wakefield Effects in a High Gradient Linac

The interaction of charged beams with the surrounding accelerating structures requires a thorough investigation due to potential negative effects on the phase space quality. Indeed, the wakefields acting back on the beam are responsible for emittance dilution and instabilities, such as the beam break-up, which limit the performances of electron-based radiation sources and linear colliders. Here we introduce a new tracking code which is meant to investigate the effects of short-range transverse wakefields in linear accelerators. The tracking is based on quasi-analytical models for the beam dynamics which, in addition to the basic optics specified by the applied fields, include dipole wakefield forces and a simple approach to account for space-charge effects. Such features provide a reliable tool which easily allows to inspect the performances of a linac. To validate the model, a parallel analysis for a reference case is performed with wellknown beam dynamics codes, and comparisons are shown. As an illustrative application, we discuss a study on alignment tolerances evaluating the emittance growth induced by misaligned accelerating sections.