The problem of the description of magnetic field for large bending magnets is addressed in relation to the requirements of modern techniques of trajectory reconstruction. The crucial question of the interpolation and extrapolation of fields known at a discrete number of points is analysed. For this purpose a realistic field model of the large dipole of the MAGNEX spectrometer, obtained with finite elements three dimensional simulations, is used. The influence of the uncertainties in the measured field to the quality of the trajectory reconstruction is treated in detail. General constraints for field measurements in terms of required resolutions, step sizes and precisions are thus extracted.

The problem of the description of magnetic field for large bending magnets is addressed in relation to the requirements of modern techniques of trajectory reconstruction. The crucial question of the interpolation and extrapolation of fields known at a discrete number of points is analysed. For this purpose a realistic field model of the large dipole of the MAGNEX spectrometer, obtained with finite elements three dimensional simulations, is used. The influence of the uncertainties in the measured field to the quality of the trajectory reconstruction is treated in detail. General constraints for field measurements in terms of required resolutions, step sizes and precisions are thus extracted. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.