Transverse wakefields at high dispersion

In high energy linear colliders the transverse beam emittance has to be preserved in order to achieve small interaction spots. If the beam is off-center in an accelerating cavity, it excites transverse wakefields, mainly the dipole mode, which deflects the tail of the beam leading to an emittance growth. In a high dispersive region, even a well centered beam can excite wakefields of higher order modes since the energy spread of the beam causes a transverse beam size which is comparable with the beam pipe. During the bunch length compression in the ring-to-linac (RTL) section of the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC), the beam pipe of 75 mm diameter is practically filled in the horizontal plane. Especially, if beam losses start to be involved, the very outer parts of the beam excite wakefields at any pipe irregularities like bellows, diameter steps, etc. Measured evidences, theoretical estimates and comparisons to other effects, like higher order magnet optics, are presented