A new particle detector in Germany will fire antiprotons at targets to probe the strongest force in nature—the force that binds atomic nuclei and generates most of the mass in the universe. This matters because the theory describing that force, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), remains poorly understood in key areas. The PANDA experiment at the FAIR accelerator facility will tackle three specific puzzles: why hadrons (particles made of quarks) have the masses they do; whether exotic particles made only of gluons—called glueballs—actually exist; and how quarks are distributed inside protons. These are fundamental gaps in our knowledge of how matter is built at the smallest scales. The UK groups at Glasgow and Edinburgh are leading the construction of two critical detector components: a normal-conducting dipole magnet for the forward spectrometer, and an innovative endcap disk DIRC detector—the first of its kind. They are also developing the simulation and analysis software needed to handle the experiment’s data. This is curiosity-driven fundamental science. There is no immediate practical application. But understanding the strong force has historically underpinned technologies from medical imaging (PET scans rely on the weak force) to nuclear energy. A deeper grasp of how mass and matter arise could, over decades, open unexpected doors.
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There are four fundamental forces in nature, of which gravity and electromagnetism are the most familiar. The former makes apples fall from trees and keeps planets in their orbits around the sun; the latter holds molecules together and operates iPods. The third force is the so-called weak force and is responsible for beta decay processes, such as the creation of positrons in Positron Emission Tomography. The fourth force is called strong force because it is 13 orders of magnitude (or ten thousand billion times) stronger than the weak force. The strong force is responsible for binding together atomic nuclei. At an even smaller scale than nuclei, it is the interaction that forms hadrons from quarks and gluons, and is therefore responsible for most of the observable mass in the universe. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is widely accepted as the fundamental theory describing the strong interaction; a recent Nobel Prize (2004, Gross, Politzer, Wilczek) was awarded for the development of this theory. The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research, FAIR, is a new international accelerator facility, to be located on the site of the GSI laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany. GSI itself is well known for the discovery of some super-heavy elements, e.g. element 110, Darmstadtium. The existing GSI accelerators will serve as injectors for the new facility. The main accelerator of FAIR will be a double-ring synchrotron that will provide ion beams of unprecedented intensities at considerably increased energy. Intense secondary beams - unstable nuclei or antiprotons - can be produced. A system of storage-cooler rings will allow the quality of these secondary beams - their energy spread and emittance - to be drastically improved. One of the flagship experiments of FAIR, PANDA, will be a QCD experiment. It will be located in the new High Energy Storage Ring (HESR), where an anti-proton beam at momenta of 1 to 15 GeV/c impinges on a target. The main research topics at PANDA will be: - Charmonium spectroscopy: Precision measurements of charmonium states (states with charm quarks) will help to understand the origin of the masses of hadrons. In addition, the mechanism of confinement of quarks in hadrons can be investigated. -Glueballs and Hybrids: The quark model picture of mesons is that they consist of a quark and an antiquark. QCD predicts that there could be different combinations that do not fit this model: quarks with gluonic excitations, or gluons only. -Proton structure: Mapping out the spatial and spin distributions of quarks in the nucleon will lead to a deeper understanding of hadron structure. The FAIR project was launched formally in November 2007, and the construction of the accelerators will commence in 2008. This is the point in time where the construction tasks for the experiments are being distributed among the collaborating institutes. We are applying for funding for the parts of the detector for which the Glasgow and Edinburgh groups are playing the leading role: - The normal-conducting dipole magnet of the forward spectrometer. We are in charge of the magnet group within PANDA. This is responsible for both spectrometer magnets: the superconducting solenoid as well as the normal-conducting dipole. - The endcap disk DIRC detector. This is an innovative Glasgow-Edinburgh design and it will be the first detector of its kind. We are leading this project within PANDA and are also playing a leading role in the overall particle identification. - In addition we request funding for the development of simulation and analysis software, and to implement this software in a Grid computing environment. The UK groups are founding members of the PANDA experiment, now an international collaboration with 400 members from 15 countries. The funding of this proposal will ensure that we continue to play a leading role in the experiment.
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