FAIR 2014 – A vibrant EPS Conference on the future of nuclear science
Finding new forms of matter and understanding the formation of elements are only two of the many intriguing questions in nuclear research and drive the construction of the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research [FAIR], one of the largest nuclear research facilities worldwide. FAIR14 focussed on the status and prospects of the experiments at FAIR.
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The International Conference on Science and Technology for FAIR in Europe took place in Worms, Germany, from 13-17 October 2014, jointly organized by the Nuclear Physics Division of EPS, GSI and FAIR. This new international research facility is on the premises of the Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany [GSI]. With about 3000 users in nuclear, atomic and hadron physics it will be one of the largest facilities worldwide and the centre for nuclear research in Europe.
More than 200 scientists met at Worms and discussed the vibrant science and the unique capabilities compared with other research centres worldwide. World-leading experts from all fields of nuclear science presented the status and development of the experiments APPA, CBM, NUSTAR and PANDA planned at FAIR and their respective physics prospects and discovery potential.
Representatives from all major facilities around the globe presented the complementarity of and competition from experiments like NA61/Shine, a new NA-60, FISIC, LHCb, Compass, BES3 or Belle2, or whole experimental programmes at new or already operating facilities like RHIC, CERN AD, JLab-12, FRIB, Riken and Spiral2. In addition, new developments for detectors and accelerator technologies are needed to achieve the ambitious goals. They were presented in many plenary and parallel talks, also showing the excellent status of the design of components. Efficient use of the beams, large statistics and unparalleled resolution are the cornerstones for the success of FAIR and its underlying physics studies. This will be made possible using techniques such as cooled antiproton beams for hadron and atomic physics to understand the basic structure of matter, laser and radioactive ions beams for the understanding of the formation of elements in the universe and ion beams for plasma physics for more macroscopic studies.
Many new ideas have been discussed for early experiments at FAIR and it has been demonstrated that the science case for FAIR is excellent, with many opportunities for breaking frontiers in all aspects of FAIR physics including various new forms of subatomic matter.
