Projects of Nuclotron modernization and Nuclotron-based ion collider facility (NICA) at JINR
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ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS Experiment
Projects of Nuclotron Modernization and Nuclotron-Based Ion Collider Facility (NICA) at JINR* R. Lednicky** Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia; Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic Received March 6, 2008
Abstract—One of the basic facilities at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna is the 6 A GeV Nuclotron, which has replaced the old weak focusing 10-GeV proton accelerator Synchrophasotron. The first relativistic nuclear beams with the energy of 4.2 A GeV were obtained at the Synchrophasotron in 1971. Since that time, relativistic nuclear physics has been one of the main directions of the JINR research program. In the coming years, the new JINR flagship program assumes the experimental study of hot and dense strongly interacting QCD matter at the new JINR facility. This goal is proposed to be reached by (i) development of the existing Nuclotron accelerator facility as a basis for generation of intense beams over atomic mass range from protons to uranium and light polarized ions, (ii) design and construction of the Nuclotron-based heavy Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) with the maximum nucleon–nucleon center√ of-mass collision energy of sN N = 9 GeV and averaged luminosity 1027 cm−2 s−1 , and (iii) design and construction of the Multipurpose Particle Detector (MPD) at intersecting beams. Realization of the project will lead to unique conditions for research activity of the world community . The NICA energy region is of major interest because the highest nuclear (baryonic) density under laboratory conditions can be reached there. Generation of intense polarized light nuclear beams aimed at investigation of polarization phenomena at the Nuclotron is foreseen. PACS numbers: 25.75.-q, 29.20.db, 29.20.dk DOI: 10.1134/S1063778808090044
1. PHYSICS GOALS The planned investigations at the Nuclotronbased Heavy Ion Collider Facility (NICA) are relevant to understanding the evolution of the Early Universe after the Big Bang, formation of neutron stars, and the physics of heavy-ion collisions. The new JINR facility will make it possible to study in-medium properties of hadrons and the nuclear matter equation of state, including a search for possible signatures of deconfinement and/or chiral symmetry restoration phase transitions √ and QCD critical endpoint in the region of sN N = 3−9 GeV by means of careful scanning in beam energy and centrality of the excitation functions. The first-stage measurements include multiplicity and global characteristics of identified hadrons, including multistrange particles; fluctuations in multiplicity and transverse momenta; directed and elliptic flows for various hadrons; and femtoscopic momentum correlations. ∗ **
The text was submitted by the author in English. E-mail: [email protected]
Electromagnetic probes (photons and dileptons) are supposed to be added at the second stage of the project. The beam energy of the NICA is very much lower than those of the RHIC and the LHC, but it sits right o
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