Image credit: G Otto, GSI.
The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) was officially launched on 4 October in Wiesbaden. Nine countries signed the convention for the construction of the new facility: Germany, Finland, France, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia and Sweden. This international agreement forms the framework for FAIR.
Immediately after the signing, FAIR GmbH was established as a company. The first shareholders are Germany, Russia, India, Romania and the Swedish–Finnish consortium. In its first session, the council of the company appointed Boris Sharkov as scientific managing director and Simone Richter as administrative managing director. Beatrix Vierkorn-Rudolph was appointed as the first chair of the FAIR council.
The countries that could not yet join because of their internal ratification procedures (France, Poland and Slovenia) are expected to do so within the next year. China, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the UK are also planning to contribute to FAIR.
FAIR is one of the largest projects for basic research in physics worldwide. Its accelerators will generate antiproton and ion beams of a previously unparalleled intensity and quality. When completed, the facility will comprise two linear accelerators and as many as eight circular accelerators – the two biggest being 1100 m in circumference. Altogether it will contain around 3.5 km of beam pipe. It is to be built in Darmstadt, where existing accelerators at the GSI will serve as injectors for the new facility.
Scientists from around the world will use FAIR to gain new insights into the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe since the Big Bang, complementing the research of CERN. Some 3000 scientists from more than 40 countries are already working on the planning of the experiment and accelerator facilities.
