topic Research

The new FAIR international research centre

A new particle accelerator facility is being built at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt. It will enable experiments that are unique worldwide. Physicists hope that the FAIR international research centre (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) will provide a new insight into the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe.

What are the basic components of matter? What keeps them together? How did the universe begin? And how has the universe developed up to the present day? These questions are not only of great scientific interest, but also of overarching cultural interest.

Since it was founded in 1969, the GSI has supplied numerous important contributions to understanding these fundamental issues in the field of physics. For example, six new elements have been discovered at Darmstadt and every year scientists successfully perform more than 50 experiments in the fields of nuclear and atomic physics, materials research and biophysics.
However, the possibilities for conducting research with the GSI's current accelerator facility will be exhausted in a few years' time. Many of the outstanding questions of nuclear physics cannot be answered using the technical means currently available. Just as biologists constantly need stronger and more sophisticated microscopes to understand the details of life, physicists need increasingly efficient and precise accelerator facilities. Only thus can the key secrets of the structure and genesis of matter be unravelled.

In spring 2003, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research therefore decided to build a new accelerator centre in cooperation with international partners. The cost of building the new plant, which is based on the existing facility, will be approximately one billion euros. The BMBF assumes that international partners will bear at least 25% of the construction costs. The Land of Hesse will contribute 10% of the costs. At least twelve countries will work together to establish the FAIR facility at the GSI in Darmstadt: China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom will contribute to the construction of the facility and the experiment programmes, and further countries are thinking about taking part.

The heart of the new facility will be a large double ring accelerator with a circumference of 1,100 metres. It is linked to a complex system of storage rings and experimental stations. The GSI's existing accelerator will serve as a preaccelerator.

The new FAIR accelerator complex will supply ion and antiproton beams of an intensity and quality which have never been achieved before. This will make it possible to perform experiments that have not been possible anywhere in the world in the past. For example, it will be possible to examine the strong force - the fundamental interaction which holds atomic nuclei together - from various points of view. Furthermore, the production and examination of very rare unstable atomic nuclei will decisively advance our understanding of the development of the universe and the formation of the heavy elements.

The work of the facility will be centred around five experimental programmes dealing with different issues:

• Experiments with particle beams of radioactive nuclei: Stars and atomic nuclei - or "How do the chemical elements develop in the universe?"
• The PANDA experiment (antiProton ANnihilation at DArmstadt): The strong force - or "How do the elementary components of matter, the quarks, stay together?"
• The CBM experiment (Compressed Baryonic Matter) - or "How did the components of matter develop after the Big Bang? Why are protons and neutrons heavier than their components, the quarks - where does mass come from?"
• Plasma Research: The fourth aggregate condition - or "What form of matter exists in the interior of large planets?"
• Atomic Physics: Quanta, symmetries and antimatter - or "Is there an anti-world?"

When it is fully operational, FAIR will offer unique research opportunities to approximately 3,000 scientists from Germany and abroad. The project is thus not only a milestone on the way to answering central scientific and philosophical questions, but also represents an important contribution to strengthening Germany as a location for research and innovation.

An international convention establishing FAIR as a new research centre was signed at Schloss Biebrich in Wiesbaden on 4 October 2010. At the same time, the international FAIR GmbH was founded, which will be in charge of constructing and operating the facility. The many participating research institutes in Germany and abroad are already conducting preparatory research and development activities. The construction work is to start in winter 2011/2012; the facility is to be fully operational by 2018.