Hadron Physics with Anti-Protons: The PANDA Experiment at FAIR

TL;DR

The ${ar{ m P}}$ANDA experiment at FAIR aims to explore fundamental questions of Quantum Chromo Dynamics by using antiproton beams to study hadron masses, confinement, and exotic states through precision spectroscopy and other methods.

Contribution

This paper introduces the physics program of the ${ar{ m P}}$ANDA experiment, highlighting its unique approach to studying strong interaction phenomena with antiprotons.

Findings

Design of the ${ar{ m P}}$ANDA detector system

Potential to discover exotic hadronic states

Expected insights into hadron mass generation and confinement

Abstract

The theory of Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) reproduces the strong interaction at distances much shorter than the size of the nucleon. At larger distance scales, the generation of hadron masses and confinement cannot yet be derived from first principles on basis of QCD. The ${\bar{\rm P}}$ANDA experiment at FAIR will address the origin of these phenomena in controlled environments. Beams of antiprotons together with a multi-purpose and compact detection system will provide unique tools to perform studies of the strong interaction. This will be achieved via precision spectroscopy of charmonium and open-charm states, an extensive search for exotic objects such as glueballs and hybrids, in-medium and hypernuclei spectroscopy, and more. An overview is given of the physics program of the ${\bar{\rm P}}$ANDA collaboration.