Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe - European Science ...

3. Research Infrastructures and Networking
Research highlights from the last decade include,
for example: the discovery of the heaviest elements,
from Z=107 to 112, and, very recently, the identification
of element 114; the identification and study of
neutron rich (double magic) nuclei, precision cooling of
(radioactive) ion beams to relative momentum spreads
below 10 −6 ; accurate measurements of a range of 350
unknown masses of unstable isotopes of neutron-rich
nuclei approaching the r-process region using the ESR
in the electron-cooler or time-of-flight mode; studies of
properties of nuclear matter around SIS energies through
nucleus-nucleus collisions, including the “caloric curve”
of the nuclear liquid-to-gas phase transition in multifragmentation,
and the mass-shift of kaons in dense
nuclear matter from sub-threshold production; the shift
of the pion-nucleus coupling constant in nuclear matter
from precision spectroscopy of pionic atoms in heavy
nuclei; the study of dilepton spectra in elementary pp,
pn, in p-nucleus and in light and medium-heavy nucleusnucleus
systems; precision studies of QED in atomic
physics of highly charged ions such as the Lamb-shift
in U91+ or the 1s g factor in Pb81+; and finally a range of
studies in ion-matter interactions, ranging from materials
science research using ion track formation to plasma
physics with measurements of stopping power and
atomic spectra of ions in high-density matter, to biological
research and to the development of heavy-ion
cancer therapy.
Equipment dedicated to hadron and (dense) nuclear
matter research:
• The 4π detector FOPI to study the properties of compressed
heated and highly excited nuclear matter.
FOPI provides a complete momentum coverage for
charged particles emerging from the reaction zone.
• The High-Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer
HADES to study the properties of vector mesons in
nuclear matter.
• A secondary beam facility for pion beams in the 0.5 to
2.5 GeV/c momentum range. Besides complementary
experiments in the nuclear matter programme this
opens up unprecedented possibilities in the field of
medium-energy hadron physics.
• A detector test facility offering mixed electron, proton
and pion beams to be used by e.g. the CBM and
PANDA collaborations at FAIR.
New opportunities for hadron and (dense) nuclear
matter research in the next five years have recently arisen
by the successful:
• Replacement of the existing time-of-flight, ToF, barrels
Ion Source
(all elements
from H to U)
Phelix Laser
(atomic and plasmaphysics)
Ring Accelerator SIS
(up to 2 AGeV)
Linear Accelerator UNILAC
up to 12 AMeV
Fragment
Separator FRS
(exotic nuclei)
Storage Ring ESR
(bare atoms and exotic nulei)
SHIP and TASCA
(super-heavy elements)
HADES
(nuclear matter studies)
100 m
FOPI
(heavy ion collisions)
Aladin – Land
(kinematical complete reaction
experiments)
Layout of the existing GSI facility with the UNILAC linear accelerator, the heavy-ion synchrotron SIS18, the fragment separator FRS,
the experimental storage ring ESR, and various target areas (see text).
30 | Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe – NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010