Facilities for the Energy Frontier of Nuclear Physics

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and capabilities of major nuclear physics facilities, highlighting the energy frontier advancements at RHIC and the upcoming potential of the LHC and other complementary accelerators.

Contribution

It provides an overview of current and future facilities pushing the energy frontier in nuclear physics, emphasizing technological upgrades and expanded physics reach.

Findings

RHIC has sustained high performance since 2001

LHC will extend nuclear collision energies by over an order of magnitude

Upcoming facilities will enable higher energies, luminosities, and diverse collision species

Abstract

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BNL has been exploring the energy frontier of nuclear physics since 2001. Its performance, flexibility and continued innovative upgrading can sustain its physics output for years to come. Now, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is about to extend the frontier energy of laboratory nuclear collisions by more than an order of magnitude. In the coming years, its physics reach will evolve towards still higher energy, luminosity and varying collision species, within performance bounds set by accelerator technology and by nuclear physics itself. Complementary high-energy facilities will include fixed-target collisions at the CERN SPS, the FAIR complex at GSI and possible electron-ion colliders based on CEBAF at JLAB, RHIC at BNL or the LHC at CERN.