According to Science Mag a vast nuclear physics complex is being built near Darmstadt, Germany. This should enable scientists to study why the universe is made of matter and not antimatter, and to test ion beams that might be used to treat cancer. However, an extra €1 billion is required to complete the project. This facility is known as the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR). FAIR is estimated to cost in total around €2.3 billion.
Lyn Evans, a particle physicist at the CERN explains how the project reached this state: “We went through the project with a fine toothcomb,” says Evans, the panel chair. “The last thing we wanted were any more big surprises.” Evans says construction costs in an overheated German market were the biggest part of the budget overrun, but poor management was also to blame. For example, he says, FAIR managers overlooked roughly €50 million in cabling costs.
But, what is FAIR?
FAIR is an ambitious extension of the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research being developed by a collaboration of eight European countries plus Russia and India. FAIR’s centerpiece constitutes a 1100-meter-circumference accelerator ring to be built inside a circular tunnel. At FAIR, matter that usually only exists in the depth of space will be produced in a lab for research. Scientists from all over the world will be able to gain new insights into the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the present.
What is supposed to happen at FAIR?
According to the official website of FAIR it is said that in this facility extreme conditions are going to be simulated. In giant planets, stars, and during stellar explosions and collisions, matter is subject to extreme conditions such as very high temperatures, pressures, and densities. FAIR will enable scientists to create such conditions in the laboratory. To do so, they will bombard small samples of matter with particles. These collisions will, for very short periods of time, create cosmic matter at the tiny impact points. The FAIR research is subdivided into the four experiment pillars: NUSTAR, CBM, PANDA, APPA.
When are the first results expected?
The first experiments are expected in 2020 according to Carsten Welsch, a physicist at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, which is an associate partner of FAIR.
Source: Science Mag, FAIR Center
