The first session at the NICA complex

On 25 March, the participants of the session of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the JINR Member States took part in the launching of session No.1 at the NICA accelerator complex in the Laboratory of High Energy Physics.

"Today marks a very significant and symbolic moment for the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. We have come a long way for 19 years and in the near future, we expect the data of the first physical experiments, when the monitors in the control room will show colliding beams. I think that this moment will come already this summer, in July-August," JINR Director Academician Grigory Trubnikov emphasized.

The launch ceremony was held in the MPD experiment pavilion via video link. The main control room of the accelerator complex, where all technological systems and accelerators of NICA are remotely controlled from, is located at a distance of half a kilometer from the MPD building. The honor of giving the start command together with Grigory Trubnikov was bestowed upon VBLHEP Acting Director Andrey Butenko, CP Chairman Arsen Khvedelidze and Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Andrey Omelchuk. After the dispatcher in the control room confirmed the readiness of all systems of the complex, a xenon ion beam with a beam current of about 300 microamperes was injected into the complex.

The first session at NICA will last about half a year and will end with the collision of counter xenon beams at the point of their intersection in the MPD hall. During the session, the CRION-6T ion source, the linear accelerator, the booster, Nuclotron and BM@N facility will be used in stages. Afterwards, the magnets will be cooled down, the channels for transportation and injection of beams into the collider will be tuned and circulated. The work of the session is provided by about 700 employees.

As reported by JINR Press Office