SNAKE CALIBRATION IN RHIC.

A proper understanding of the response of the spin orientation due to the currents in the four helices which make up each snake is necessary to control spin tune, avoid snake resonances and facilitate the operation of the RHIC spin flipper. The effect of the helical dipole snakes in RHIC is to rotate the spin orientation an angle {mu} about an axis at an angle {phi} in the horizontal plane. With two snakes the combined effect gives rise to a spin precession frequency which is determined by the {mu} and {phi} angles at each snake. Depolarization or spin flipping can occur when this spin tune is near an external driving frequency. We employed the RHIC spin flipper in this way to determine the spin tune and thus verify spin tune predictions based upon previous field measurements of the snake. We also considered the response of snake resonances locations to spin tune as another way of verifying spin tune predictions