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

3. Research Infrastructures and Networking
Particular emphasis to medical applications is given
at Centro Nacional de Aceleradores, CNA, University
of Seville, where radionuclides for PET are produced.
Similar techniques are developed at HIL, Warsaw, with
the cyclotron GE-PETtrace 8 to be operational in 2011.
At the The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear
Physics PAN, IFJ PAN in KRAKOW, a new cyclotron
for the acceleration of protons up to 230 MeV is being
installed for proton therapy, nuclear physics research
and other applications.
A number of SSFs are organised in FP7 IA Joint
Research Activities (JRAs) and Networks. Eight institutions
from central and southeast Europe collaborate in
the EWIRA (East-West Integrating Research Activity) JRA
of ENSAR to integrate the research communities of their
laboratories, and their nuclear research programmes,
into the European Research Area and thus provide the
opportunity for developing nuclear science across all of
Europe. The EWIRA institutions are: NCSR “Demokritos”,
Athens; IFIN-HH, Bucharest; ATOMKI, Debrecen; NPI,
Rez near Prague; HIL, Warsaw; RBI, Zagreb; INRNE,
Sofia; and IFJ-PAN, Krakow.
These networking activities need to be continued in
the future to enhance the inter-laboratory cooperation in
Europe, with an emphasis on smaller-scale laboratories
in central and southeast Europe that provide advanced
testing equipment and promote the development of novel
experimental techniques.
Concerning nuclear physics applications, SPIRIT
(Support of Public and Industrial Research using Ion
beam Technology) has been formed as an FP7 Integrating
Activity project grouping seven SSFs with leading ion
beam facilities, and four research providers from seven
EU Member States and one Associated State. The seven
partners providing Trans-National Access supply ions
in an energy range from ~10 keV to 100 MeV for modification
and analysis of solid surfaces, interfaces, thin
films and nanostructured systems. The techniques cover
materials, biomedical and environmental research and
technology, and are complementary to the existing synchrotron
and neutron radiation networks.
The collaboration of smaller-scale facilities should be
strongly supported in the forthcoming EU Framework
Programme 8. Integrating Activities are of vital importance
for the development of these laboratories, both
with regard to improving the performance of their own
accelerator facilities and the development of novel instrumentation
to be used at the next generation of European
large-scale facilities such as FAIR and SPIRAL2.
3.2 Future Research
Infrastructures
In this chapter, we present the nuclear ESFRI facilities,
under construction or planned, major upgrades of existing
facilities and plans for the future.
3.2.1 ESFRI Roadmap Facilities
Construction of the two large-scale nuclear physics
facilities FAIR and SPIRAL2, which were identified as the
European top priorities in Nuclear Physics on the 2005
and 2008 ESFRI lists, has started or will begin soon.
FAIR, Darmstadt, Germany
The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research, FAIR, in
Darmstadt, Germany, will provide worldwide unique
accelerator and experimental facilities allowing for a
large variety of unprecedented forefront research in
physics and applied science. Indeed, it is the largest
basic research project on the roadmap of the European
Strategy Forum of Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), and
is a cornerstone of the European Research Area. FAIR
offers an abundance of outstanding research opportunities
to scientists from the whole world, broader in scope
than any other contemporary large-scale facility such
as FRIB in the USA or J-PARC in Japan.
The main focus of FAIR research is on the structure
and evolution of matter on both a microscopic and on
a cosmic scale – deepening our understanding of fundamental
questions like:
• How does the complex structure of matter at all levels
arise from the basic constituents and the fundamental
interactions
• How can the structure of hadronic matter be deduced
from the strong interaction In particular, what is the
origin of hadron masses
• What is the structure of matter under the extreme
conditions of temperature and density found in astrophysical
objects
• What were the evolution and the composition of matter
in the early Universe
• What is the origin of the elements in the Universe
The FAIR research programme was approved by the
International Steering Committee of FAIR (ISC) in 2006.
It includes 14 initial experiments, which form the four
scientific pillars of FAIR (in alphabetical order):
• APPA: Atomic and plasma physics, and applied sciences
in the bio, medical, and materials sciences.
• CBM: Physics of hadrons and quarks in compressed
nuclear matter, hypernuclear matter.
• NuSTAR: Structure of nuclei, physics of nuclear reac-
40 | Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe – NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010