NA61/SHINE physics program -- first results and future plans

TL;DR

The NA61/SHINE experiment investigates the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter, aiming to locate the critical point and understand deconfinement, through comprehensive collision measurements and particle production studies.

Contribution

This paper presents the first physics results, current status, and future plans of the NA61/SHINE experiment, highlighting its role in exploring the QCD phase diagram.

Findings

Initial results on hadron production across different collision energies.

Evidence supporting the onset of deconfinement.

Data contributing to the search for the critical point.

Abstract

The NA61/SHINE experiment aims to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study properties of the onset of deconfinement. These goals are to be achieved by performing a twodimensional phase diagram (T - {\mu}B) scan measurements of hadron production as a function of collision energy and system size. With its large acceptance and good particle identification NA61/SHINE also performs detailed and precise particle production measurements for the T2K, Pierre Auger Observatory and KASCADEGrande experiments. This contribution summarizes current status and future plans as well as presents the first physics results of the NA61/SHINE experiment.