Projects of the 21st century

MPD Collaboration prepares for the first experiments at NICA

21 – 23 April, the 17th meeting of the MPD Collaboration was held at VBLHEP. About 200 scientists from 11 countries of the world discussed the readiness of the NICA Accelerator Complex and the MPD multipurpose detector for the next run at the collider. The experimental facility is scheduled to be put into operation at the MPD interaction point in October, 2026.

Opening the working programme of the meeting, the report on the status of work at the NICA Accelerator Complex was presented by Chief Engineer Evgeny Syresin. In his speech, he summed up the results of the Run 1 lasting from March, 2025 to April, 2026.

A key result was the provision of long-term circulation of xenon nuclei beams with an energy of 1.76 GeV/nucleon in the upper and lower collider rings. In February 2026, simultaneous circulation of oncoming beams with the same frequency of clots of particles in each of the rings was achieved and their passage was synchronized at the meeting point - in the area of the MPD detector. Evgeny Syresin also emphasized the second physical cycle of the BM@N experiment that resulted in 2.75 billion events. These achievements confirmed the stable operation of major engineering systems of the Accelerator Complex.

The start of the next run at NICA is scheduled for autumn 2026. Its main task will be to increase the intensity of the circulating beam in the collider. To do it, the VBLHEP specialists will have to carry out a complex of preparatory work at the booster, Nuclotron and collider. In the new run, the complex is expected to operate with xenon ion beams at an energy of 2-2.5 GeV/nucleon, providing the luminosity 10²⁴–10²⁵ cm^-2 c^-1.

Head of the MPD Collaboration, a chief researcher at VBLHEP Viktor Ryabov spoke about the preparation of the multipurpose detector. One of the main achievements was to ensure the stable operation of the superconducting magnet of the experimental facility with a design field of 0.57 T. According to the scientist, since February 2026, the MPD magnet has been fully ready for commissioning.

Active preparation of internal detector subsystems is underway. A power carbon fiber frame has been installed in the magnet body and in the near future, the installation of the modules of the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) and the time-of-flight system (TOF) starts - their assembly and testing are completely completed. Significant progress has also been made on the central track detector - time-projection camera (TPC). The assembly of the detector gas volume, as well as its leak and high voltage testing, were successfully completed. Installation of 24 Readout Chambers (ROC) ends on meeting days.

"Over the past six months, we have made significant progress in preparing the multi-purpose detector for the beam run at NICA. According to our plan, by the end of October, the facility should be moved to an operating position at the MPD interaction point," Viktor Ryabov said. In addition, the international MPD Collaboration still implements a programme to simulate the physical processes of the experiment for both collider mode (MPD-CLD) and the fixed target mode (MPD-FXT). At the same time, software and computing infrastructure are extensively prepared for the upcoming launch of the facility and processing of the first real data.

Head of the MPD Department, technical coordinator of the Collaboration Vyacheslav Golovatyuk presented an updated roadmap for the assembly and integration of detector subsystems, outlining the key stages of work for 2026.

The programme was continued by a series of specialized reports. VBLHEP Deputy Chief Engineer Konstantin Mukhin spoke about the status of the superconducting solenoidal magnet of MPD, Head of Ion Collision Reconstruction Sector of VBLHEP Oleg Rogachevsky made a report on the development of the computing infrastructure of the MPD experiment. An employee of the G. I. Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP SB RAS) Evgeny Antokhin reported on the implemented work to measure the magnetic field in the volume of the MPD detector and presented a plan to carry out further measurements in June, 2026. At the end of the first day, a meeting of representatives of the collaborating institutions (MPD Institutional Board) was held.

At the 17th meeting of the MPD Collaboration, more than 40 scientific reports were presented. Their topics cover a wide range of issues related to the development of detector subsystems, of computing infrastructure and of the physical programme of the experiment. On 22 April, the participants that arrived in Dubna visited the NICA Accelerator Complex and the experimental hall of the MPD facility. The results of the meeting were summed up during an open discussion on 23 April.

JINR Press Office